The Girl from Forks
by emilylostboystwilight
Summary: The Boy from Alaska in Edward's POV, Please read that first, Edward moves to Forks, a 6th grade nerd, and befriends Bella, but they drift apart when Edward makes a new friend. He still feels more than friendship for Bella. What happens 5 years later?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: You know our deal, here. I hope you enjoy this a lot! I'm hoping for this to be a bit more fun coming from Edward... again, it's starting when he's in the 6th grade..._

I was surrounded by boxes. Big, brown boxes. I smelled dust and tape and cardboard everywhere. This house didn't smell like home anymore. The only thing in my room that was left was my bed. I sat on it, not moving, nor making a sound.

"Hey, baby," my mother's voice called from the doorway. She was leaning there in her skirt, boots, tights, and turtleneck sweater. I looked up to meet her gaze. She walked over and sat down beside me on the bed, taking my hand. "Edward, I know you don't want to move," she said, sympathetically.

_No, really, _I sarcastically thought to myself, but didn't dare say it out loud. Esme was too nice to me. Nicer than I ever deserved. So was Carlisle, my father.

"We have to, though."

My father was a doctor, and a pretty good one at that. My mother never wanted to live in a big city, though, even if it would mean double the money for us. We were always content to live the way we did. My mother was pretty much a stay–at-home mom, who painted a little, as well as design houses. Carlisle brought home the money for us.

We all liked Alaska.

We loved the cold and the snow and the people around here who were always so friendly and nice, but my parents decided it was time to move back to their hometown: Forks, Washington. I'd only been there a handful of times in my short lifetime. It wasn't that I was against the town. I was against the fact I would be the new kid, and therefore, a freak. The only person I would know there would be my cousin, Alice, and she wasn't quite on the normal side.

"I know, Mom. I just don't want to go away from here." The sad truth was I didn't have anything to keep me tied to Alaska. No friends, no sports, _nothing_. I was a complete bookworm - thanks to my mother, who made me read the classics (literally) - so I had no idea of why I was so reluctant to leave. Actually, just thinking about it made tears well up in my eyes. My mother pulled me into her arms and rocked me back and forth, over and over.

"Shhh, it's okay, Edward. It'll be okay. I know," she murmured as she rocked me, "You'll make friends. When you go here, you can be anything you want to be. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. You need to know what's right in to you, in your heart. You'll make the right decisions."

Our moment was interrupted by my father.

"Knock, knock," he said, entering my room. "The movers are here," he announced quietly, "we should probably start heading out now."

I crawled away from my mother and went towards the front door with my little bag of things I'd packed to entertain myself - mostly just books. I turned around to take one last look at my house. I let my eyes wander to all of the familiar places, bringing up forgotten memories. I shut my eyes and turned back to the door, pulling it open and stepping out into the cold, winter air.

I was haunted by what my mother said. Would I really be able to change myself? Would I change who I was to an extreme? Would I have the guts to make new friends? I climbed into the car and got situated. It was going to be a long ride to Washington. As we pulled off, I looked behind me one last time. One last time, to see the home I loved disappear behind me.

_A/N: I know, really short, sorry, but it'll get longer, you should know that! You've read _The Boy from Alaska!_... Well, you have, haven't you? If you haven't, you should do it now, hahaha. Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Nothing to say today, except, you guys are so awesome and love this story already that I couldn't be mean and wait to post this chapter. Thank you for all of your reviews on this, as well as in Thoroughly Modern Bella. And thank you to my Beta reader, because she is amazing and helps me so much!_

Here I was: Forks Junior High School. Also known as "Hell in Building-Form." So far, I hadn't had any classes with Alice, my cousin, and the one person I knew here. I was in all advanced classes, so that would explain why Alice wasn't with me, not to be mean. It was just the truth. Alice wasn't as intellectually gifted as I was. _Gosh, I sound like a stuck-up jerk._ I dashed those thoughts from my mind as I went up to the lunch line even though I wasn't really hungry. I was far too nervous to eat.

I grabbed a faded red tray and took only a bottle of apple juice. I quickly paid for it and started walking slowly to find somewhere to sit. That's when I spotted Alice and her group of friends. There were two guys and three girls, including Alice. I knew these were her friends she had been talking about all week as she helped me move in and get situated. There was a big guy with a lot of muscles. Right next to him was a very pretty blonde girl, and a blonde boy next to her. Then there was Alice of course, and on Alice's right side was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on.

She wasn't the normal type of beautiful, like the blonde girl at the table. She was completely ordinary, but she fascinated me. She had brown hair that was in waves down her back and she seemed tiny, though not as small as Alice. She had her nose in a book, so that was a pretty good sign that we'd be able to get along. She looked so fragile, yet strong at the same time. I walked over to Alice, nervous to be in this school, but even more nervous to be next to this beautiful girl.

"Hey, Alice." I paused nervously. "Would you mind if I sat with you today?" I really didn't think she would turn me away if I had just sat down next to her, but it was polite to ask, all the same.

"Oh, no, go ahead," she replied. "You can sit between Bella and me." Bella. That was this angel's name. Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella. I grabbed a chair and pulled it out noisily before sitting down between the girls. Alice then began pointing out who the people were around the table.

"Okay, well, this right here is Bella, like I said," Alice began, pointing to her, and Bella waved shyly at me. Alice turned to her left. "This is Jasper and Rosalie Hale, and yes, they're twins," she said, pointing to the blondes. "And that thing over there is Emmett McCarty." He held out his fist to me, which I guessed it meant I was supposed to... what did they call it? "Pound it?," I guess. I bumped my fist awkwardly to his. I quietly drank my apple juice for a few minutes before curiosity got the best of me.

"So, what book are you reading, Bella?" I asked, a bit nervous to be talking to her. I, of course, would not let this show. Her brow wrinkled a little before she answered me.

"Oh, umm, Jane Eyre. I'm about halfway done. I would have been done, but Alice wanted to go shopping." I smiled as she threw Alice a glare. I had heard about Alice's little hobby.

"Yeah, I've seen how Alice can get when it comes to her and the mall. Yep. That book's pretty good for a girl book," I said. I had read it, of course. And it was all Esme's doing. Bella looked back at me, surprised.

"What? You've actually read it?"

"Yes. When you've got a mother like mine, you have to read all the classics, even the girly ones. Don't worry, I didn't read it too long ago. I prefer Eragon..." I trailed off. Who didn't like dragons, honestly? Bella threw me a sceptical look.

"Eragon? You have GOT to be kidding me."

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Come on, that book is horrible! And the movie sucked too!" Oh, no she did not...

"Hey, now, don't drag the movie in, it's not it's fault," I began defensively. "What don't you like about it?" It took her less than a second to reply.

"It's boring. I mean, it's some dragon running around all over the place. I do admit, I like the dragon chick thing, but I hate Eragon." It pleased me to see that she knew about books, even the ones she hated. That's when I figured out her weakness.

"And I would guess that you like that Harry Potter crap better?" Ugh, Harry Potter, come on.

"Oh, heck yes, I do!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Well... I guess I'll have to overlook that if we're going to be friends." I hoped we could be friends... She pondered what I had said for a second before she answered.

"Then I guess I'll have to overlook you liking that disgusting dragon stuff... ew. Let me guess, you like Tolkien as well?" She knew my type as well.

"Almost more than my life," I said. Nerdy, but true.

"Gosh, then I'll have to live with you I guess. Have you read _Anne of Green Gables_ yet?"

"No, not yet." I had been meaning to read that one, and my mother had been wanting me to.

"I'm bringing it for you tomorrow morning," she offered, smiling at me.

"Okay, that'd be nice. All this stuff that they're giving me today is so easy and I've already done most of it, so it shouldn't take me long to read it," I said, almost a bit too smugly. I didn't want to sound too stuck-up, because then she wouldn't like me.

"Good! Honestly, it's one of my favorite books. Anne's just so imaginative and has such great views of things. Plus, she's normal and makes her mistakes, so that's good." She was interrupted by Alice throwing a fork at her.

"Come on, nerds, the bell just rang, we gotta get to class," Alice said, sounding a tad annoyed. She got like that when she didn't really understand what was going on. Bella turned back to me.

"What do you have next, Edward?" she asked nicely, being very polite.

"Uhhh..." I didn't remember and had to pull out that schedule. "Science. My favorite!" I could see Alice rolling her eyes out of the corner of my eye.

"Well, I'm heading to English, but I'll see you later, I guess."

_Well, darn,_ I thought.

"Yeah. See ya," I said, walking off to the science room. As I walked, all I could think about was Bella. She had taken all of my fears and nervousness away. There was something about her that was special. I didn't know what it was, but I was going to spend the next few years of school figuring it out.

_A/N: I know, "AWWWW", right? Still, I have nothing to say. Thank you for reading and please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Thank you sooooooooo much for all of your wonderful reviews on this and for Thoroughly Modern Bella. I'm really glad you guys are liking this and I hope you'll continue reading. I do this for you guys and I'm glad I'm appreciated. I also want to give a shout out to the people who review and favorite continuously (I know who you are, I read all of them and I visit the profile of everyone who favorites or alerts or reviews anything, because it's only fair. I mean, you read my story, you should at least get a profile visit from me). You guys make my life worth living... wow, that was very cheesy._

I had moved in the middle of the school year, right after Christmas, which made my adjusting harder, but I always had Bella. We could talk about anything and everything without the fear of being judged. Of course, we did joke, but we never were malicious about it. We enjoyed playing "20 Questions" with each other, where we would ask each others likes and dislikes, favorites and least favorites.

"Favorite band?" I asked her one day as we were walking around after school.

"Linkin Park," she said without skipping a beat.

_Wow, something in common, _I marvelled, because I loved Linkin Park as well, and Bella didn't seem like the type of girl who would listen to stuff like that. She seemed like the type of girl who would listen to... Celine Dion or something.

"That was bound to happen, you know," she said, bringing me back to where I was at the moment. I thought for another minute.

"What is your favorite comic-book character of all time?" I looked around. It was sunny, a miracle. We were now walking around the track outside of school. I watched as she thought for a moment.

"Spider-man... duh, it's so obvious," she answered. I shook my head. "Okay, then, who's your favorite?" she asked me condescendingly.

"Batman, obviously. Really, I mean, how can you not like the cape?" I replied, joking about the last part.

"Yeah, he's my second favorite, I have to admit, but he doesn't really have any powers. I do admit, the movie version of Spider-man is way better than the comic-book version. The way they did the webs was way cooler than the whole Peter-making-them thing." That reminded me...

"Speaking of superpowers, I bet that I could beat you in a race around the track." I was a fair runner and I was very aware of that fact.

"I bet you could beat me, too," she said without confidence. That's when I took off down the track. Running came second nature to me and it wasn't hard at all to do. It was exhilarating and I enjoyed doing it to clear my head. I looped around once and passed Bella, waving. I wasn't even breathing hard yet. As I passed her and started looping around again, out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone walk up to Bella. I tried to run faster to get around to get a better look at who it was. Yeah, I could have stopped, but I _wanted _to keep going.

I was on the straight stretch coming towards Bella when I realized who it was. Mike Newton. He had never done anything against me, but he just radiated "jerk." He was whispering something when I stopped next to them.

"How long have you been running?" he asked me.

"Oh, I don't run. It's just something I do for recreation. You know, exhilarate myself." I got a kick out of seeing the confused look on his face. Bella and I stifled our giggles as he struggled to understand what "recreation" and "exhilarate" meant. I winked at Bella and she blushed a little.

"Oh... so how long have you been on the cross country team?" Mike asked, still _clearly _confused.

"I'm not. I just said it was something I do for fun." Mike struggled again to make sense of what I was getting at. Fifteen seconds later, he answered me.

"Well, we could really use you on the team. Honestly, you're pretty damn good, and we really need someone like you to help us out. You look like the kind of guy that would need something to do other than read something." As he said this, my mother's words rang in my ears. She had said I could be anything I wanted to be. I'd be able to change my typecast image of bookworm and turn into something more.

"I'll get back to you on that, okay?" I said to him.

"Oh, yeah, man, just come see me sometime after school. I'm usually somewhere in there every day," he said, waving his arm towards the school building. He turned and walked off the other way. I was staring after him when I felt something light hit my arm.

"I can't believe you're considering it!" Bella exclaimed.

"Hey, I never said that I was considering anything," I said, a bit too defensively.

"I know you. The look on your face said it all. Come on, please don't do it..." she practically begged. I hated doing this to her, making her pained.

"Now, why shouldn't I?" I asked, wondering why she wouldn't like it if I just tried something new.

"Because Newton's a jerk and has always done crappy things to me, since we were little and he called me stupid in kindergarten. He always does those types of things to me just to bug me. Please don't do it." Bella was my friend, but I shouldn't just tie myself to her and only her, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Bella, it isn't your decision."

"I know, and I will still be your friend, no matter what you decide to do. Just don't become a jerk if you do this? Please?" She was begging again.

"Bells, I promise I won't become a jerk." Honestly, I don't see how running could make me into a jerk.

"Fine," she said as we walked off to go home.

As soon as I started my training for track and cross country, we hung out less. I was tired all the time, and Mike didn't help. He was very protective of me and tried to cut me off from everything but winning. It killed me to be away from Bella, but I didn't have time for her anymore. I sat with her less often and called her even less often than that. I would see her across the cafeteria when I didn't sit with them anymore, and I would get this ache in the pit of my stomach. It was like I was a junkie going through withdrawal. I needed her, but I didn't know how to make both parts of my life fit together. It was either sports or Bella.

When I saw her in the crowded halls, we'd greet each other, but never got into any conversations. Over the years, I still went over to Alice's house and saw her sometimes, and talked to Alice occasionally, but usually avoided the subject of Bella, for it was too painful. Bella and I had become too different, and I had done what she feared I would do: become a jerk. That's what hurt the most. I knew that in her eyes, I had betrayed her. In time, I lost my glasses and got contacts, gained some new muscles and more confidence. It seemed the more I gained, the more Bella retracted into herself. All seemed lost, until my junior year of high school...

_A/N: This seems soooooooo short!!!! All of my chapters seem so short after writing longer things. Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: This is a chapter that I think will be hard to write, and I don't know why._

For the start of junior year, the weather decided to be extremely weird. It was very hot for an August in Forks, and it wasn't raining the morning for the first day of school; it was just very foggy and muggy. I could barely breathe while walking from my house to my Volvo. I got in and started it up and drove to school without incident. I pulled in and something canary yellow caught my eye. Alice. She had gotten a Porsche over the summer. Yeah, I (along with about half the guys at school) was jealous, but she knew that. It wasn't like her to flaunt the fact that our family had money, but she LOVED this car.

I had memorized my schedule before school, so there was no need for me to walk around with a piece of paper glued to my nose telling me where to go. As I walked in the door, I was bombarded with claps on the back from my friends. Every girl I could see was sneaking a look at me. But there was only one girl I wanted to look at me...

"Hey, Edward," Mike said as I approached him. I was headed for my first class and there was no way Mike was in it. I was still in all advanced classes, but I never had any classes with Bella. She was always in the other set of advanced classes.

"Hey, Mike," I said back.

"What's your first class?" he asked.

"English." His brow furrowed. "How come we never have any classes together?" he asked, sincerely puzzled.

What an idiot. The guy was my friend, but how stupid can you get?

"Because I'm in advanced classes," I said politely.

"Oh, yeah. How can you do that stuff? Why are you so smart?" he asked me.

"I have no idea," I said, smiling as I walked off.

All through the morning, I was given book after book, lecture after lecture. All the classes seemed easy for me. I don't know why I didn't decide to skip a grade, because I could have easily. It was boring for me to sit through the listing of rules and different curriculum. By lunchtime, I was about to fall asleep. I stood in line with my eyes shut, and all of the sudden, I got a feeling. It was telling me I should turn around. I did what my instincts told me by opening my eyes and turning - and when I did, warm brown eyes were staring up into my green ones.

"Hey, Bella, how are you?" I managed to say calmly. Looking at her, I had missed her more than I realized.

"Fine. How's cross country going?" she asked. I knew by the way she said "cross country" she was still mad at me. She was trying to hide it, but she was a terrible liar.

"It's good. Just a little hot, you know?" I said. Every time I went out to practice, I felt like collapsing. "I mean, Forks always has been hot to me, since I lived in Alaska, but it's burning up!"

"I've noticed," she said, smiling.

"What class do you have next?" Maybe my luck would finally kick in and we would have just one class together... Please, God...

"Advanced bio, I think," she responded.

"With Banner?" I asked, a bit wary.

"I think so."

"Me too," I said, completely relieved and elated. I hid that quickly. I was at the end of the line and I paid for my food. "Guess I'll see you then."

"Yeah, sure," I heard her say as I walked to my table. Luckily, I didn't have lunch with Mike. Over the past couple of years, he had begun to wear on my nerves. I sat next to Ben Cheney. He was a swimmer, and the friend I could identify with the most. He was always a good guy and wasn't like the other jocks at our table.

"Edward, how are your classes?" he asked me.

"Oh, they're easy," I answered honestly.

"Really? And you're in advanced, right?"

"Yeah."

"I might have to have you tutor me sometime. It's the first day and I'm already lost," he admitted sheepishly.

"Sure, no problem. I'd be glad to help sometime. It's hard to find a time to do anything with anyone. I've got meets and practice all the time, and school, and you know what a perfectionist I am. When I finish with cross-country, it's time for track training. I don't get any breaks!" I said, laughing about the last part.

"Yeah, it's tough, man," he said. I didn't say anything through the rest of lunch.

After I was done with my food, I just sat there and looked over at Bella conspicuously. She was reading something. I'd recognize that book anywhere: _Anne of Green Gables._ The first book she let me borrow. I continued studying her until the bell rang, and then I rushed into class and was the first there.

"Ah, Mr. Masen," Mr. Banner greeted pleasantly as I walked in, "how's the team looking?"

"Great, Mr. Banner."

"That's good," he replied, going back to his computer to work - or whatever it was he was doing. I sat down in the first seat I saw and waited for class to start.

Mr. Banner greeted the class and said he had assigned seats for us with our lab partners. They would be our lab partners for the rest of the year. I wanted to have Bella for my partner so badly. Mr. Banner called out names, starting at the left side of the room, by the door, and went threw the first two rows of lab tables. He was on the third and final row, with only six people left. He called out who was at the first table, right in front of his desk. Next, he called out my name. I went over to sit down. The next thing I heard was Bella's name being called. I smiled. Lab partners for the entire year.

_YES! _I screamed in my head, completely euphoric.

"Hey, partner," I said as she came to sit beside me.

"Hey," she replied shyly. That was when Mr. Banner decided to start class.

"Now, right now, you and your partner have a microscope and slides on your desk. This is just to see how much you guys know. I want you to label the stages of mitosis each of these slides are in." I heard several groans and complaints as we started arranging slides and adjusting microscopes.

Bella grabbed the first slide and popped it in, adjusting the eyepiece. "Anaphase," she said, quickly. She then pushed the microscope to me, to let me verify. I looked to her and nodded before beginning to fill out the worksheet we had been given. We took turns looking in, exchanging only the necessary words to work. We were the first partners done, so I turned to her.

"Since when did you get so good at science?" I asked, grinning. She was always horrid at science.

"Since always."

"That's not the way I remember it," I laughed. "I used to always have to help you with this stuff."

"I got the hang of it eventually, though," she said, defending herself. We both laughed. "You were the one who wanted to be the doctor, though. How's that working out?" She remembered. Of course she did. She always remembered everything.

"I still want to be a doctor like my dad. I have no idea why, though. Most people think it's just because it's what my father does, but it really isn't. I guess I just like the idea of helping someone. Making a difference in their lives." It was the truth. I'd never told anyone that before, but Bella was different, as I'd noticed on the first day I saw her. I could open up to her and tell her anything. I was so mad at myself that I'd let her friendship get away. At that moment, Mr. Banner started class again and I pretended to throw myself into listening, when really, all I was thinking about was Bella.

_A/N: I loved this! It took me a while to write, but I really really liked the way it turned out. Tell me what you think, please! Thank you so much!!!!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: I could go into more detail on the cross country season, but I really don't want to._

The next few months were busy, busy, and oh, yeah, did I mention busy? I had schoolwork every night, not to mention practice and meets. I never had time to do anything other than sleep, wake up for school, eat, do homework, practice, meet, do homework, come home, sleep. Bella and I hadn't talked anymore other than what was required for our labs.

One day, in mid-October, I decided to take a break. There was no meet for me to go to, no homework for me to work on, and no practice. There was something I had been meaning to do for a long time, but just never had the time to do it. I felt a need for the old me. I missed being the nerdy guy. I needed to get back to that. To who I really was.

I hurried from school after the final bell. When I got home, I thought it would be a good idea to take a shower. I didn't like walking around smelling like ... school. I didn't realize how tired I had been in the past months when I passed out on my couch after the shower. I was awakened by a kiss on my cheek. I looked up to see my mother's face leaning over me.

"Hi, sweetheart," she said to me. I knew I was a little old for this, but I couldn't tell my mother she couldn't use pet-names for me anymore.

"Mom, what time is it?" I asked, a little worried I wouldn't be able to get to Port Angeles in time.

"Oh, it's a quarter after four. Why?" She had a sixth sense about these things, like mothers do. She knew I planning to go out and do something.

"I just wanted to know if it would be okay for me to go to Port Angeles, to the bookstore in Port Angeles, actually." Might as well ask, there's no way she could turn me down if it was to go to get a new book.

"That's fine, honey. Don't be out too late," she said. "Oh, and if you run into Alice in the next few days, could you ask her about the suitcases? Your father and I need them back for our trip."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Mom," I said, kissing her cheek and grabbing my jacket and keys.

"I love you, be safe," she called after me as I stepped out the front door.

"Love you, too!" I yelled back. I rushed to my car and started it up. It would take me no time at all to reach Port Angeles. I usually could make this trip in a half an hour if I really pushed it. I let everything else go from my mind as I concentrated on the way the road curved and the way the wheel felt under my hands. I felt powerful in the driver's seat. Speed had always done something for me. I loved it and couldn't get enough.

I reached Port Angeles at around five. I wandered aimlessly through the streets and looked at the people. I enjoyed the sunny day. It was one of the rare sunny days in Washington. I was used to the wet and the cloudy by now, since I had lived in the two places in the United States with the least amount of sun. I thought as I walked. Thought about life. My friends. My "friends," I should say. How did I put up with them? They were nothing like me. They didn't care about anything but sports and girls. They had no conscience, no sense of right and wrong. There was no depth to their thoughts and actions, and all they cared about was themselves and their own glory. How had I gotten mixed up in them?

I reached the bookstore at about 5:30. There was a nice old lady sitting behind the counter reading. I walked around, up and down the shelves, looking for something to buy. There was so much. I could spend years in a bookstore and not get bored. I missed doing this. I missed choosing a book to read, a book that I could keep forever to read over and over and over again. I was trying to decide between a vampire book and a werewolf book when I heard a familiar voice coming from the counter.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I was wondering if you knew if there was a payphone or a telephone around here that I could use," Bella's voice said anxiously. I wondered what could be wrong as I began towards her.

"Of course, young lady," I heard the shopkeeper say. I was now behind Bella and reached out to lightly touch her shoulder. It sent shivers down my spine. She turned and gazed into my eyes.

"Bella," I said to her, then turning to the nice old lady, "Never mind the phone, I have one, ma'am." I pulled out my shiny silver cell phone from my back pocket, grabbed Bella's warm hand and gently placed the phone in her palm. Bella turned back to the woman.

"But do you happen to have a phone book that I could borrow? I'm sorry to ask you all of this right as you're about to close," she said, sounding a little embarrassed.

"I do have a phone book, and it's completely fine, dear. I can see you're in need of this right now. It's just back here," she said, turning to go back in a room around the corner. "I'll be right back." Bella turned to address me.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, a little bewildered.

"Shopping for a book. It's what one usually does in a bookstore," I said. "It was a Friday night with no meet to go to and I had no new reading material. Anyway, enough about me, what might you be doing here?" I accused.

"Alice, Rosalie, and I were dress shopping... for the Halloween dance, you know." Automatically, I was mad. Who asked Bella to the dance? Why would she even go? She HATES dancing. All of this ran through my brain at a million miles an hour, and a feeling of jealousy rushed over me. I hid it before she could notice. I raised my eyebrow at her.

"You're going to the dance? No offense, but you're so clumsy that just walking across the dancefloor could become a hazard for anyone within a three mile radius."

"That's what I said to them! And that's also why I'm not going. I don't have a date, and only losers go to dances without dates," Relief flooded my entire body. No one had asked out my Bella. It was selfish and wrong of me to think I had a claim on her, but that was the truth, the way I felt. I felt like she should be mine and even if I wasn't good enough for her (which I wasn't). I wanted her to want me in the same way I wanted her. I had almost forgotten about the conversation. I understood what Bella was saying. Girls always worried about those sorts of things. I don't know why Bella would, though. She had never been normal and worried about what other people thought of her.

"Okay. I guarantee you, though, that you are not a loser," I said softly. Right then, we heard the old woman come back with the book. She handed the dusty book to Bella and I observed her as she turned to the yellow pages. I noticed she was looking for a mechanic.

"What's wrong with your truck?" I said. The old woman looked at us with an odd grin on her face, like she knew something we didn't. I ignored it, but then she spoke to us.

"I don't mean to pry, but do you two know each other?" she asked.

"Yeah, we go to school together," I responded.

"Oh, well that's nice. I'm glad she found you, since it sounds like she may be in a bit of trouble." Bella then turned back to me to answer my question.

"Well, it wouldn't start and so I decided to call a mechanic. I'm no good with things like this." I knew she wasn't. I was, though.

"I'll go take a look at it really quick. Can I have your key?" She nodded and reached in her pocket to get it. She placed it in my hand and I ran out the door. I walked down the street until I found it. In the fading light, I couldn't quite tell what was wrong. The battery looked bad, and the engine did as well. Her truck was a mess, but it was to be expected. The thing had to be over fifty years old anyway, which doesn't help. There was nothing that I could do at the moment, so I went back to the store. As soon as I saw Bella, I could tell that something was wrong.

"What?" I asked, seeing the look of despair her face.

"I can't get ahold of any of them." Of course. She had exceptionally bad luck. I, on the other hand, didn't.

"Let me try." I took the phone from her and got someone on the first number I tried. "Yes, my truck is out here by 943 West Main Street and I took a look at it, and I'm pretty sure my battery is dead and the engine doesn't look too well, either."

"Okay, then, we'll be there to tow it for you in in about ten minutes," the man on the other end replied.

"Okay. Sure. I'll be waiting... Thanks... Goodbye." I shut the phone and returned it to my pocket. I looked at Bella. "Your battery is fried and your engine is pretty messed up, but they should be here to tow it in about ten minutes."

"Did you make sure this place was affordable?" she asked warily.

"Don't worry, if you can't cover it, I'll pay for it." It was only the nice thing to do. I had plenty of money, and didn't like to flaunt it, but she was in need and it would be okay to do this, even if she didn't like gifts.

"Edward, I-" she began, but I cut her off.

"Don't worry," I repeated. "I'm not sure this is a problem they'll be able to fix overnight anyway." She groaned and put her head in her hands. She leaned over and gave the lady her phonebook back.

"Thank you for this," she said gratefully. The lady took the book back and looked to us, concerned.

"So you got someone to help you?" Bella nodded. "That's good. Is there anything else I can do to help? I live upstairs and so it wouldn't be a problem if you needed anything for right now." She was a very nice woman.

"Oh, no, that's okay, I'm sure you want to go upstairs now and close up, and I have to go wait for the tow, so I'll leave now, but thank you so very much," Bella said, smiling.

"It's no problem. Please come back sometime!"

"I will," she promised. I walked forward to open the door for her. We went to the truck to wait for the tow. When it arrived, we then explained to the man what had happened and took my car to the garage, where they took a look and explained to us in jargon (that Bella wouldn't understand) what was wrong with her truck. The problem ended up being worse than I expected, and Bella hung her head.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get you something to eat and drive you home. It'll be all right," I said, trying to calm her. Everything _would_ be all right.

"I don't have much money," she said, embarrassed.

"I'll pay, it's not a problem."

"Really, I shouldn't let you do this for me," she said as we went to the Volvo.

"It's what friends do, remember? You said no matter what, we'd always be friends, and that is what I'm doing right now: being your friend." She was quiet after that and I drove to a little Italian restaurant I knew of. We took a table in the back and ordered Cokes. We sat in silence for a few minutes until I realized there was something I _needed _to say.

"I sort of miss talking to you," I said.

"I sort of miss that too," she returned.

"I wonder why that is," I mused.

Our waitress returned, taking our orders and flirting with me. She wasn't the best flirter in the world and I couldn't help but to think about Bella as she did this. I thought about Bella, trying to flirt with me. I wished Bella would flirt with me. I wished with all my heart that we could be together. I couldn't just tell her how I felt, though. I had hurt her, and I knew it. I couldn't just change those five years in one second by expressing my feelings. I had no right to want her after what I'd put her through.

We both ordered mushroom ravioli and waited. I noticed Bella shiver and I pulled off my jacket to give to her; it was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"Thank you," she said, pulling her arms through the holes. She looked extremely comfortable in it. I wanted to give her my jacket, really. I wanted her to have a part of me. I wanted us to be that couple, the one where she wore my class ring as we walked down the halls, hand in hand. I needed to talk to her...

"So you helped Alice and Rosalie buy dresses?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah." I needed to keep it going.

"Not much fun for you, huh?" I said with my crooked grin plastered to my face.

"Not really. I just came so I could go to the bookstore, to be honest," she said, and I knew it was the truth. It was so much like her. "I'm glad I did, by the way. I don't know what I would have done without you tonight. Thank you so much."

"It's not a problem, really. I'd want you to do the same for me. As I've always said, I love helping people." And that was true too.

Right then, our food arrived, which left our mouths occupied for a while. After we were done, we went back to the car to leave.

"Crap!" Bella exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, completely alarmed.

"Well, I'm supposed to meet up at Rose's house, and I was supposed to be there by seven. I'm already five minutes late now."

"Use my phone," I said, placing it in her palm for the second time that night. Our hands brushed and I saw her shiver. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"Oh, no, why?"

"You shivered again." I silently hoped it was due to me, but I knew it probably wasn't.

"It's nothing." It seemed to me like she was lying, but there wasn't really anything to lie about there. Bella began talking into the mouthpiece.

"Hey, Rosalie? I had a little bit of trouble back at the bookstore, and I'm fine, but I won't be there until about eight... I'll explain when we get there..." I then heard Alice's voice yelling into the phone.

"We? Who's we?" Alice said, probably picking up another receiver. I chuckled to myself.

"Bye, guys," she said, hanging up. She handed the phone back to me and our hands brushed again. She shivered again. Maybe... no, never mind.

I peeled out of the parking lot and raced down the deserted highway towards Forks. I needed the speed to think. I didn't want this night to end, but Bella needed to get home, too. I wanted Bella, here with me like this, forever. We talked about little things on the way home, like school and our parents. We (unlike the typical teenager) actually got along with our parents. I found out how much more we had in common now. All too soon, we arrived in front of Rosalie's house. I then remembered something.

"Would you think Rosalie would mind if I came in for a second to talk to Alice? My mom needed me to ask her something today and I forgot to ask."

"No, I think it'd be okay," she answered. We got out of the car and walked to the door side by side. Bella let herself in and held the door for me.

"Rose? Alice?" she called out to them, rounding a corner.

"Where the hell have you been, Isabella Marie?" Alice screeched. I couldn't help smiling. It was hilarious to watch her freak out like this. And now I knew Bella's middle name.

"Isabella Marie?" I said smiling.

"Shut up," she said to both Alice and I. Alice turned to me.

"It's a beautiful name, Edward Anthony Masen, so do what Bella said and shut up." I think she missed the fact that Bella had told her to shut up as well. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom wanted me to ask you about the suitcases. You know, when you and your sister borrowed them to go shopping in New York so you could get 'the good stuff'? Well, she needs them back because she and Dad are going to Europe in November, and they need them."

"Are you going?" she asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. I have school, remember? And so do you. I think you forget that, and that's why your grades are so bad," I jibed.

"Are you staying with us?" she inquired, ignoring my crack at her intelligence.

"Most likely.

"Ugh. Oh, well. Yeah, I'll bring them over tomorrow morning. Well, bye," she said, stalking out of the room. Bella began taking the jacket off.

"No, keep it. Just in case you get cold again."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Anyway, I guess I'll see you later." I gave her a little wave and walked out the door. I couldn't stop thinking about Bella all the way home and all through the night. Was I the reason for her shivers? Could she like me? Why would she if she did? As I fell asleep, I dreamed of the most beautiful girl in the universe, and in my dream, she wanted to be with me.

_A/N: It was reallllllllllyyyyyyyyyy long!!!!!! I'm very proud of this one, and I hope you really enjoyed it. It took me about triple the time it normally takes me to write a chapter._


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Just got done watching _Dark Knight _again. I love that movie. And I bought a whole bunch of books today, so that's good. So here's another chapter._

I decided that I would throw myself into schoolwork for the next few weeks. I did everything to keep away from Bella. I had broken her heart and I knew it. I really didn't deserve her, I didn't even deserve to think about her. So, I didn't talk to her unless it was absolutely crucial to biology, never looked for her after school, and kept away from anything that might remind me of her.

I had no life at all outside of school and running. So that's what I chose to do. After my homework was done and double-checked for any mistakes, I would go out and run. I had a long driveway and I would run through it, in the rain or snow, whatever. I just had to keep moving, be preoccupied.

During lunch, all I heard was the disgusting thoughts of the people I chose... yes, _chose_ to associate with. I could hardly stand it. How had I been able to put up with the way these guys talked about women for so long? It was like I had been deaf before, but now I could hear again.

"You wanna hang out after the dance on Friday, Mike?" Ben asked one day.

"Well, if what I want to happen happens, then no," Mike replied.

"Huh?" Ben asked, confused. I rolled my eyes. I knew Mike.

"Jessica and I... you know... we're gonna get it on after the dance, if you know what I mean," he said. Ugh, "get it on?" I thought. Who said that anymore, anyway? And none of us wanted to know that.

"Mike, just quit it," I said. He stared at me, dumbfounded.

"What did you just say to me?"

"Just don't talk like that. It's disgusting." He didn't understand how wrong it was to say things like that. It just degraded himself, and more importantly, Jessica.

"Why is it disgusting that I'm getting some?"

"You figure it out," I said, walking off towards the biology room. I was extremely early, but I didn't care. I just needed to be away from Mike.

On Halloween, the night of the dance, it was the hardest. I couldn't keep Bella out of my mind for long. I thought about how all my jock "buddies" were talking about their dates. For a moment, I wished that I had gotten the courage to ask Bella to the dance, even though I knew she would reject me. That night, I just sat in my house and watched the goriest movies that I could find. It was a little habit of mine, when it was too dark to run and I had no homework. It was Halloween, after all, and weren't you supposed to watch some cheesy R-rated movies? I sat up in my room while the doorbell continued to ring all night. Finally, around eleven, I turned off my DVD player and decided to watch whatever happened to be on television.

I found a vampire movie called _Fright Night._ I actually liked it. It seemed like one of those "state-of-the-art" for it's time type movies. It was a little predictable, and a little corny, but still, enjoyable enough and it gave me a break from watching _The Dark Knight_ for the billionth time. I thought this could keep my mind off Bella, but it only made matters worse.

I thought about if she were here, right now, in my arms. Would she be scared? Probably not. She was too tough. She'd probably laugh her head off at this... I wish she would actually be scared of things like this. Then, if we were watching it, I could pull her in close, soothe her, and tell her everything would be okay and her fears weren't needed. After the movie went off and the credits rolled to an '80's style song, I crawled under my covers and slipped into unconsciousness.

That night, I dreamed that I was a vampire. Ridiculous, I know. But Bella was in my dream as well. She was walking towards me, as beautiful now as she was in real-life. She wanted something from me. It was like... she wanted me to bite her. I wanted to give her what she wanted, so I leaned my head in close to her throat and put my lips to her soft skin before...

I woke up.

The dream didn't help me with the Bella situation. I thought about how beautiful she was in that dream, how much I could tell she wanted to be with me, much, much more than in other dreams I'd had featuring her. I couldn't wait until my parents were in Europe.

"Alice, wait up!" I called to her as she was heading to her car one day. It was rainy and I knew Alice wouldn't want to stand out in the rain and talk. She stopped right before she reached the door.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily.

"Jeez, touchy."

"I have to meet Jasper today, but I have to drive Bella home. That stupid truck of hers isn't fixed yet, so I'm stuck with driving her everywhere." I decided I had better get to the point before I ended up with a black eye. Even though she was tiny, Alice could pack a punch.

"I was just reminding you about how I'm staying next weekend," I said. Alice looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You interrupted me to say _that?_" she asked angrily.

"Yes," I said, grinning.

"I'm going to kill you," she said quietly before starting towards me. I grabbed her arms before she could do anything. I twisted her around so that her arms were tangled and she was in front of my body.

"You really need to work out those anger issues, Al. Maybe a sleepover with Bella would help," I said, but only half joking. I knew now that Alice would ponder this and not hurt me. I let her go, kissed the top of her spiky-haired head, and walked out into the downpour to my shiny silver car.

On Friday, I stopped at my house to pick up some clothes before speeding to Alice's house. I couldn't wait to spend time with Bella near me. I'd gotten a call from Alice Wednesday night saying she was kicking me out of the room because of her "girl-bonding time." Whatever.

I got to the house and unpacked. Alice walked in just as I finished.

"Hey, remember, you're not allowed downstairs tonight," she reminded me for what had to have been the fiftieth time in the past two days. I ignored her.

"What time is Bella getting here? I need to know what my visiting hours are for the living room."

"I'm getting Bella at about five, so from then until morning." She smiled. I gave her a skeptical look. Then, she walked out of the room. I didn't want to make it obvious that I wanted to be around Bella. Just before five, I went downstairs to find Alice setting everything up. Sleeping bags, movies, junk food: everything needed for a girly sleepover.

"I'm going out," I announced.

"Okay," Alice said absently, sort of waving at me like she didn't care what I did. I walked out the door into the light drizzle. I climbed into my car. I didn't know where I was going to go, I just needed to _go. _I raced down the highways that were deserted towards Port Angeles. I stopped at a gas station to get a Coke and candy bar I didn't really need. I just did anything and everything to burn time. I went to rent some DVDs. I stopped by the bowling alley and played a game by myself. When I finally looked at my watch, I realized it was time to head back.

I walked in to find the most horrid movie in the history of the universe playing on the plasma screen.

"Gosh, Alice, how many times have you seen this piece of crap?" he asked."Shut up, it's sad," Alice said, tears welling up in her big dark eyes.

"I'm glad to see that Bella has a lot more dignity than you do," I said, walking to the kitchen. I was really hungry. I grabbed something from the fridge, I didn't even see what it was, and I began to eat. I heard the movie stop and Bella walked into the room. I had to concentrate on swallowing my food instead of watching her.

"Oh, no you don't. We are eating nothing but junk food tonight: Coke, popcorn, chocolate, and pixie stix," Alice said, grabbing Bella's arm and pulling her away from a juicy-looking red apple she was eyeing. I wanted Bella to notice me, so I needed to be heard. And I knew just what to say to make that happen...

"I'm stealing the television, Alice," I announced.

"NO NO NO! This is MY sleepover, NO BOYS ALLOWED!" Gosh, could she be more immature?

"Hey, I'll leave eventually, I just want to watch something, I don't care what. I just want to watch a movie with you guys, and then I'll leave you two to do... whatever it is that girls do at these things." I was a bit confused about what girls did during these sorts of things...

"Okay, but you can't make fun of anything we watch," Alice warned him.

"I promise."

"Hmmm... what should we watch? You know what we haven't watched in forever? _You've Got Mail_. Great movie. That's what we're watching."

"Fair enough," I returned.

"That's fine," Bella said.

I sat next to Bella through the entirety of the movie. I kept wanting to reach over and pull her to me, but that wouldn't be a good thing. I just kept my hands to myself and watched the screen. After the credits began, I headed towards the kitchen and then upstairs toward the guest bedroom which was now my room for the time being.

"I'm turning in early," I said. Better get out of here before I do something stupid, I thought silently. I shut the door quietly behind me. I went to lay down on the bed.

"Jasper, of course!" I heard Alice scream.

"Alice, shut up!" I yelled down to her. I heard them giggle crazily. Bella's laugh was beautiful. For the next few hours, all I could hear were murmurs from the conversation they were having. I just lie there silently, doing nothing. It felt good to just relax.

In the middle of the night, I decided to go get some water. The girls were asleep and I was really parched. I made my way to the kitchen, got a glass of water, and turned to go back to the room. I turned to corner and, much to my surprise, Bella was still up.

"Geez, you scared me, Bella!" I whispered loudly. "What are you doing up?"

"Oh, nothing, I just couldn't sleep." Liar. I knew her too well.

"Are you bored?" That was more likely.

"Yeah, a little," she admitted.

"Well, I have my laptop and I was bored as well, so would you like to come upstairs with me and watch something on Youtube?"

"Sure," she said, following me back to the room. I pulled out my laptop and turned it on as she sat cross legged on my bed and I came to sit beside her.

The next few hours were a blast. Who comes up with this stuff? Honestly, it was great. Bella and I watched all of the episodes for this show called the Allen and Craig Show, and it was great, along with some music videos and some old Youtube favorites. Before we knew it, it was three in the morning.

"I should get back downstairs or Alice will wake up wondering if I went out to rob a jewelry store or something," she said reluctantly.

"Okay," I replied unenthusiastically. I didn't want her to go. "Well, sweet dreams," I said as she climbed out of bed.

"You too. Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight, Bella."

I went to bed after she left. There was nothing to do without her there. I awoke at ten and went to get a bowl of cereal. I had finished my bowl and was cleaning it when Alice walked in.

"YOU ATE MY CINNOMON TOAST CRUNCH?!" she yelled.

"Uh, yeah," I said.

"ARGH!" she screamed. Right then, her phone rang playing come Celine Dion song. Jasper. Ugh. I had to get out of the room. I walked out, staying just around the corner.

"Hey, baby!... What?... Of course!... okay, I'll see you then, love you!!!... Bye!" She hung up.

"How was your night?" Alice asked as Bella walked into the room.

"It was fine. Alice, I lied to you last night," she said sheepishly, probably blushing a brilliant shade of red, but I couldn't see to tell.

"Huh?" she asked.

"What you said last night with the thing about me not knowing what it felt like to have butterflies, and stuff. I do." Wait, what? Who? I was instantly jealous of whoever it might be. Hold on: what if it was me? Unlikely.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Bella. You're a girl!" I heard Alice scream. I hardly noticed, for I was too dazed.

"Nice work, Sherlock," Bella said.

"No, I mean, you have a crush!" Now was my moment to act.

"Bella has a crush?" I said, walking around the corner. Bella's face fell.

"No, I don't," she lied. She was blushing after all.

"Alice just said you did," I said, leaving her speechless.

"Go away, Edward, you just ruined the moment! This is the first time Bella has opened up to me about any of these types of things and you go and ruin it! Argh!" Alice screamed.

"Tell me who it is, Bella," I said, trying to charm her.

"No," she said firmly.

"I promise I won't laugh," I said softly

"No."

"Please?" I begged. She thought for a moment.

"...Maybe... Eventually... down the road."

"I won't forget," I said slyly as I walked into the next room. And I wouldn't...

_A/N: I had to mention _Dark Knight...


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I was up early and decided to write another chapter._

I decided to stay up in my room until Bella left. It would probably be best. I got on my laptop and continued to look up random things, check e-mails, things like that. I reached in my bag I'd brought with me and pulled out a book that always comforted me, even though it was a little girly. _Anne of Green Gables._ I still remember when Bella let me borrow it and I had to go out and buy it after I was done. It surprised me that my mother didn't have it.

I got lost in the story and was to the part where Anne dyes her hair green accidently when I heard the phone ring. I stumbled around the house trying to find the receiver, eventually finding it in Alice's room. I picked it up.

"Hello," I said.

"Edward? It's Bella." Oh, my gosh. I had to focus on not breathing to hard. Gosh, I sounded like a girl... Just be casual, I thought to myself.

"Oh, hey, Bella. Wasn't Alice just at your house?"

"Yeah, but I have a problem." I panicked and lost my casual factor.

"What is it, Bella?" I asked urgently.

"It's not really a big emergency, I'm exaggerating," she said, causing me to let out a sigh. When did I start holding my breath?

"Bells, don't scare me like that. You're going to cause me to go prematurely gray," I said, laughing it off. I needed to help her out in any way I could, though. "So, what was it? Can I help?"

"Well, I just got the call that my truck is fixed and it's in Port Angeles, but I have no way to get up there because my parents are out right now, and I'm sure Alice would love an excuse to go up there to shop or look around, but apparently she's not around."

"I could drive you, if you wanted," I offered.

"Would you? That would be fabulous if you could!" she practically yelled.

"Oh, it's not a big deal, really. It isn't like I have anything better to do or anywhere to go. I'll be there in about five minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be ready."

I hung up and rushed out the door to the Volvo. It wasn't rainy today, just misty, and I had heard it was supposed to go away. I sped the entire way to Bella's house. When I arrived, I ran to her front door and knocked urgently. Bella came out, looking beautiful, as always. Was that... eyeliner? And lip gloss? Since when did Bella do that? I asked myself. We got in the car, buckled up, and drove off.

"So, how come it took so long for you to get your truck?" I asked, trying to start a conversation as we got about ten minutes down the road.

"I think it's because my truck is so old. It's a-"

"1953 Chevy, I know." I was good at things like that.

"Yeah," she said. I decided I should probably be quiet for a while. The silence finally got to be too much for me, so I turned on my CD player. As it began to play, a classical piece drifted through the car. Crap. I reached out quickly to take it out. Bella probably didn't like things like that.

"Yeah, sorry, you probably don't want to listen to that," I mumbled, still reaching towards the button to take out the CD. Then, I felt Bella's warm hand on mine, pulling it away.

"No, I love Debussy! Honestly," she said.

"Really?" I asked, completely surprised. "You know this?"

"Yes." She giggled. What was she thinking?

"What?"

"Nothing. Just remembering my mom. She used to make me listen to this stuff for hours a day. I had to memorize what these sounded like and then memorize the composer. I never liked it, but I can appreciate it now. I just didn't like it when I was nine."

"My mom loves music," I said, smiling. My mother loved things like this too. I completely loved and respected her for all she had done for me. "She taught me everything I know now about music. I took lessons with her until I was fifteen."

"Really? You don't seem like the musical type. Well, you used to, before..." she trailed off. I knew what had been going to say.

"Yeah, before I started running. I looked like such a dork back then. Honestly, what was I thinking?" I said, reaching up to run my hand through my messy hair.

"You looked fine," she said. It seemed like she was defending the old me. "There was nothing wrong with it. That was who you were."

"Yeah. I still actually try in school, you know. Everyone on the team gives me crap for it, but I still really want to succeed and be a doctor. I won't be able to run like this forever, you know." I glanced over to look at her. I knew my gaze held a little of something it shouldn't: the love I felt for her. I'd never thought about it that way before. Did I really love her?

I realized that we were in town now, and I drove to the garage. We got out and Bella went to talk to the mechanics. We both looked under the hood and inspected the things they had put in. I wanted to make sure Bella was getting the best. Bella then payed the mechanics what she owed and thanked them. She started walking towards her truck. I realized, in the pit of my stomach, I didn't want her to leave me. I hastily reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Bella, do you want to do something today? I mean, do you have anything else to do? Because if you don't, I would love to just hang out, you know? I told you I wanted to get back to where we were, and this would be a start." I looked into her brown eyes and she seemed to get lost in my emerald ones. She was silent for a moment before responding.

"No, I don't have anything to do," she said, smiling up at me.

"Really? Well, what do you want to do?" I asked. Good work, I thought. I don't even know where we should go.

"I thought you were already supposed to know this," she said, raising one eyebrow.

"Not in the slightest. It's all up to you." I played it off coolly.

"How about we just walk around here? I know it's cold, but we can stop for coffee and just stop in all the little shops. We can just be tourists for today, if you want."

"As you wish," I said, like I was Westley from _The Princess Bride_. I knew Bella liked that movie. "Do you mind if we just take your truck and then stop back out here to get my car, since it's already parked on the curb?" I continued.

"Sure," she said, climbing in. We drove around the block and parked under a tree on the curb. We got out and walked down the street, stopping in almost every shop down the road. We laughed until we almost cried, made immature jokes, and we just talked about life and how we wished that we could go back. I loved the feeling that it gave me to see Bella opening up to me and letting herself be seen.

After visiting all of the shops on one side of Main Street, we went to the other. We stopped in the coffee shop, and I noticed Bella's low tolerance for caffeine. It was hilarious. When we left, we continued down the street, before I realized there was one place we hadn't been to yet.

"We have one more place to go," I said, turning to her. She looked confused.

"What? Where?" she asked.

"Come on." I grabbed my hand and pulled her towards our destination. Holding her hand felt so... right. Like it was what was meant to be, forever and always. I held the door open for her as we reached the bookstore. We walked in and the old woman greeted us.

"Hello! Oh, I remember you too! The girl with the broken truck and the nice, handsome boy!"

"Yeah, that's us, but my name is Edward and this is Bella," I said, introducing us to her.

"Well, my name is Janet. I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she said, looking around, making sure no one else was in the shop I guessed. "I have to say, you kids are my favorite customers. I don't know what it is about you two, but you guys stick out of the crowd, and I really like you both. You both seem like such nice, sweet kids, so tell you what: you guys pick one thing each out of here and you can have it for free." I looked down at Bella with the same love in my eyes that had been there earlier today. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Oh, thank you so much, Janet!" she exclaimed.

"Don't mention it, really. I like you kids."

"Hey, I'm gonna go look around, okay, Bella?" I told her.

"Yeah, hey, I'll be there in a second, Edward," she said as she was looking at a few books and bookmarks sitting around the checkout counter.

I walked off and heard Bella and Janet talking about something, but I didn't bother finding out what. I could have easily, but I wanted Bella to have her privacy. I meandered through the aisles of books. I then heard Bella walk up behind me. I turned to her holding two books I was torn between.

"So, which one do you think I should get?" I asked, holding up the books: one with a fiery pit on the front and one with a dragon.

"Neither." I knew she would say that. She smiled at me and it took my breath away. She then took the books from my hands and began reading the summaries on the backs. She handed them back to me, and chose the one with the dragon.

"That was the one I was leaning towards," I said. "We have another thing in common," he said, bringing back that old inside joke. We laughed. She grabbed a fairly thick book with a cover only using the colors black, white, and red. It was a supernatural romance and looked pretty good. I groaned as she said that was what she was getting. Some things never change.

We walked up to say goodbye to Janet. I walked to the door and held it open for Bella. We returned to her truck and drove back to the shiny silver Volvo on the curb. She parked in front of the my car and got out of the truck.

"I want something from the vending machine," she said, walking towards the ancient machine. I stopped her from putting her money in. Deflected, I thought.

"You shouldn't have to pay," I said. It was true. I wanted to buy her everything she ever wanted or needed.

"No, I want to," she replied, but my dollar was already in the machine.

"What do you want?" I asked. She pondered that for a second.

"Hmmm... I want a Caramello," I said.

"Me too," I said, pushing the buttons. "I'm gonna follow you home, just to make sure you get there okay, okay?" I said as I chewed on the chocolate and caramel goodness that was Caramello.

"Sure, that's fine," she replied. We got in the vehicles and started the long trip home. It was long, not only because Bella drove like an old lady, but because she wasn't there with me. The trip home seemed three times as long without my love by my side. Finally, we reached her house. There were no lights on and her parents' car was gone. I parked the Volvo behind her truck and got out to follow her.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked.

"Uh, maybe for a few minutes," I said, again, trying to play it off like I had nothing better to do. We headed into the warm house and she sat her things on the counter. She led me into the living room.

"You can sit down, if you want to," she said as I walked over to join her on the couch. She turned on the television to the History Channel. There was a World War I documentary on. World War I had always fascinated me and I always wanted to know about it. I was sucked into learning about it until the very end of the program. I reluctantly looked at my watch.

"Darn it," I muttered. I probably would have cursed, but Bella was a lady, and gentlemen didn't do that in front of ladies. Just another thing my parents had taught me.

"What?" She asked, concerned.

"It's ten. I probably should be getting home. I had fun today, Bella," I said. I got up, as did Bella. She walked with me to the door.

"Oh, before I forget, you should probably get this back," she said handing me my jacket. I had almost forgotten I'd let her borrow it. I wanted her to keep it forever, just so she could have a little part of me with her always. I took it from her, though. "So, I'll see you at school, I guess." she said sadly.

"Yeah. Come here," I commanded. She automatically walked over to me. I grabbed her fragile body up in my arms and held her close for a few incredible short seconds. It felt right to have her there, against me. She smelled of strawberry shampoo and freesia. Her head was on my shoulder and she looked so peaceful. I dared to do something I'd wanted to do from the moment I met her. I brushed my lips across her smooth hair before I pulled away from her warm body, not wanting to. I wanted to hug and kiss her forever.

"I've missed you, Bells. I'm glad we got to do something today," he admitted. I knew it was probably time for me to go, so I stepped out into the cold night. I drove home in a daze. I was euphoric when I reached the house. I walked in to see Alice and Jasper on the couch watching television, her head in his lap. I was grinning like a freaking idiot as I walked up the stairs.

"What happened to you?" Alice called to me as I continued up the stairs.

"Nothing," I lied. I fell asleep that night with a smile spread across my face.

_A/N: Thank you and I hope you liked it!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Just watched _27 Dresses _and _Mamma Mia, _and then I was bored. And my instant messenger is broken and no one is helping me fix it. So thus, I write. And, the reason I decided to post this now is because I won't be here tomorrow, so there, 2 chapters in one day!_

Now, Bella and I were making an effort for our friendship. I sat with her at lunch a few days in the next week, ignoring the stares we got. I didn't care who saw us. I didn't care what they thought or said about us. I just wanted to be with Bella. I wore the jacket she had borrowed every day. It still smelled like her, and when I moved, I could smell her like she was right next to me.

I hadn't forgotten about Bella's crush. I didn't want to pester her too much, or else it would look like I really, _really_ cared about it. So I asked her about three or four times a week, and every time, I would get something about how people might hear her or it wasn't the right time. Every time she would say something like that, it made me want to know even more. It was slowly killing me.

Not only was I getting closer to Bella, but it seemed as though the rest of the little group was accepting me back. It felt like coming home after a long journey. They cared about me and showed it. We teased each other like old times and talked and just... had fun. I hadn't felt like this in a long, long, long time.

As Christmas Break approached, I both anticipated it and dreaded it. Of course I would enjoy the time away from school and Mike (who had been pestering me about Bella almost daily), but I would hate to be away from my Bella. So, I was extremely glad when Alice made an announcement one day at lunch.

"Now, as you all know, Christmas Break starts tomorrow, and I think we'll all be a little sad to stay away from each other. I have a plan," she began. Her tone was very businesslike and I knew we were no longer looking at Alice, but Mary Alice Brandon, who was very organized and strict compared to fun-loving, shopoholic Alice. "New Years', as you all know, is my third favorite holiday, after Christmas and my birthday. Because of this, I have decided that I'm going to throw a huge party at my house for the six of us."

"Hell yes! I am so there!" Emmett's big voice boomed. We all started laughing.

"Whoa, Emmett, calm down," Jasper said through his chuckles.

"Yeah, well, you guys would just spend the night at my house and we can do fun things and watch the ball drop, steal kisses, you know." I noticed her wink at Jasper during the last part , and she was now back to the Alice I knew and loved like a sister. Her little plan made me love her even more because there was now a better chance of seeing Bella inconspicuously.

"Are you going?" I practically whispered in her ear.

"I guess. Are you?" she replied.

"Yeah, sure."

Bella and I walked slowly to biology when the bell rang for us to head to class. Because of the holiday, our teacher decided it would be fitting for us to watch _Home Alone._ I personally loved the movie and watched it every Christmas with my parents at least once... but no one knew that. I scooted my chair right next to Bella's, sitting closer to her now than I had ever dared before. Our arms were almost brushing, and they would when either of us would so much as move.

I walked Bella to gym after class. I knew how much she hated it, and I imagined it would be quite amusing to watch Bella trip over her own feet in the class. Bella seemed to be thinking about something when I left her to head to my own class.

I met Bella at the gym after school and walked her to the truck. She still had the look on her face like she was considering something or pondering a decision.

"So you're sure you're going to Alice's?" I asked, making sure one more time before I left her.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Yes, I will most definitely be there." Good answer, I thought.

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you there," I said before grabbing her up in a quick hug. Afterwards, I backed away from her and opened her truck door to help her in. After I watched her pull away, I walked to my Volvo and found Mike there.

"Eddie, my boy, what up?" he asked, trying to be a gangster, I guessed.

"Um, nothing," I replied absently.

"You, me, the boys, New Year's Eve, you in?" I pretended to think about it, though there was no competition for what I was doing that night.

"Probably not, sorry, I have a family think." And it wasn't all a lie. Alice was family, she was like a sister to me.

"No, come on, boy, you should come with us."

"No, I really can't, Mike," I said, finally getting in and starting the car up. Mike walked away sullenly, and I drove off, forgetting him as I concentrated on the curvy roads that led to my home.

Christmas was small. We just had my family and Alice's over at my house. We had amazing food and great conversations. I always enjoyed family gatherings like this because it reminded me of when I would visit as a child. We exchanged presents, and I got tons of clothes from Alice and her sister. I guessed they were from when they went to "get the good stuff." I chuckled at the thought. My parents just got me some blank sheet music paper and money. It was really all I wanted. The most important thing I had was my family.

I anticipated New Year's Eve more than Christmas, though. I was the first to arrive at Alice's, and of course, Bella was the last. When she finally came in, I noticed how nice she looked, considering she was hanging out with friends. She was wearing makeup and a sweaterdress and looked stunning. My angel came to sit by me as we all watched television. Then, we began playing every game under the sun, thanks to my annoying cousin. Everything from Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution (and Bella did not fall down to my surprise. She only tripped two or three times) to Sorry! and Pictionary. I didn't want to do this anymore. What I really wanted was to have Bella alone with me for a while.

"Hey, I'm going up to my room," I told Alice as I stood up.

"It's not your room, it's MY house," she yelled.

"Yeah, but you never use that room and when I'm here, I do, so I claim it," I countered.

"Whatever," she sighed as she went back to flirting with Jasper. Gag.

"Bella, you coming?" I asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah," she said, sounding like she was in a trance. She seemed a little nervous as we walked up the stairs to the room. When we reached it, we sat down on my bed and were silent. Bella still seemed extremely nervous. I needed to break the silence.

"I-" we both said in the same second. "You first," I said. I heard her gulp as she stood up and walked to the door. She faced away from me and took deep breaths, sounding like she was trying to calm herself. After about thirty seconds or so, she turned to me.

"You know how you kept wanting to know who I liked?" her shaky voice asked.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. Here it comes, I thought.

"Well, I decided that for my New Years' Resolution that I would tell you who it was." She paused, taking more deep breaths.

"Yes, and..." I said. She took one more long breath before continuing.

"You see, that's the thing. It's sorta kinda... you."

_A/N: Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! What will happen?! You should already know from reading _The Boy from Alaska!_ For this chapter, I would like to thank the _Mamma Mia_ movie soundtrack for getting me through it._


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: I've been looking forward to writing this chapter forever!!!!!_

Bella wasn't breathing and neither was I. It felt like my whole world had changed, but for the better. Bella. My Bella. Liked me? I didn't... no, I _couldn't_ see how this could be possible...

"Are you serious?" I said, not believing that this wonderful thing could be possible. She nodded. I knew how much she feared doing this. She had just opened up and trusted me with her deepest, darkest secret that not even Alice knew. She probably was too stunned with herself to speak. "Wow." This wasn't happening. It wasn't possible that she liked me as much as I liked her. "Just... wow..." Bella finally decided to speak.

"I know, you probably don't like me, so just, forget I ever said anything. I really like your friendship and we just got back to that, and I really really don't want this to be awkward," she said, rushing to get her words out. She was shaking and I could tell. I knew why: she was nervous about my reaction. She ran a hand through her hair quickly, looking self-conscious. She had no reason to be, though. She was still beautiful, even if she was freaking out. I just looked at her, not saying anything. Even though she had opened up to me, I didn't know if I was able to open up to her.

"Please say something," she pleaded with me.

"How long?" I asked softly, looking straight into her eyes. I wanted to know how long she had felt like this. Was it as long as I had liked her? Probably not.

"Consciously or subconsciously?" she asked. I didn't answer. "Well, I guess I've had a thing for you since the sixth grade." I felt my eyes widen. Could this be true? I knew she noticed my shock, but she continued. "But I guess I just didn't realize it until after you helped me out in Port Angeles."

"Really? That long? Gosh, sixth grade? When I was a complete nerd?" I said. She liked me when I was a loser? When there was no one who liked me? When I was just the loser kid no-it-all?

"Yes, that long ago, and if you were a nerd in sixth grade, you still are one now. You've only changed on the outside." I thought about what she said for a long time. She continued looking at her shoes, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"It's almost midnight," I said quietly. She nodded and I took her hand and led her back downstairs. Alice was about to spaz out when we got to the living room. I didn't understand how she could get so excited about this. It was just a new year... Jasper sat there like he didn't really care about anything. Rosalie and Emmett were curled around each other and looked a little tired. Bella pulled away from me and sat next to Jasper and I took my place beside her. The ball began dropping and everyone's voices rang out in their own way, counting down the seconds.

"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... WOOO!!!!" We all screamed. I was suddenly extremely nervous. I looked to see Jasper leaning over to Alice for a kiss and Rosalie did the same to Emmett. I looked at my love, who was staring at the ground.

"Bella," I said, getting her attention. She turned to me slowly. "I think it would be a shame not to ring in the new year with a kiss." My heart was pounding in my chest as I said it. I wanted to kiss her so badly right now, I wanted to let her know how much I loved her. I began to lean towards her slowly. She was hesitant at first, like she wasn't sure what was happening. She leaned in to meet my lips with hers. As soon as her lips met mine, I felt like I had been struck with a lightning bolt, even if that was the only part of us that was touching. I wanted to grab onto her and pull her closer to me and never let go. All too soon, she pulled away. The kiss hadn't been any more than a quick peck, but it felt like more. So many thoughts were running through my head, so many emotions flowed through my body. It broke my heart when she pulled away.

"Bell..." I began, looking around to see the two other couples making out. None of them had noticed our kiss, which must have been a relief to Bella. She hated attention, and I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted anyone to notice that. "Come on. You wanted me to talk, so I'm going to. Come on, upstairs, now," I demanded, grabbing her hand and taking her back to my room. I needed to get this out now. She trusted me with her biggest secret and it would be extremely rude and unfriendly to not trust her with mine. We sat on the bed and I grabbed both of her hands in mine and looked at them, locked together perfectly. Her hands were little and warm and perfect.

"Isabella," I began, using her full name, "from the moment we met, I knew there was something different about you. You weren't like normal girls. You were grown up and mature, you liked literature, not trashy tabloids. You could speak to me without words." I finally decided to look up into her beautiful, deep brown eyes.

"You're probably the most beautiful, amazing creature there ever was, and I'd be a fool to say that I don't like you back. I'm just surprised you waited this long to tell me," I laughed in spite of myself. I couldn't believe I was finally telling her this. "I, like you, have liked you subconsciously," and consciously I added mentally, but I didn't add it for fear of her freaking out more, "since I was twelve, and I can't believe it took me this long to realize it." To realize how long I had wanted her. To realize how much I needed her. "When you told me your feelings, it was like a lightbulb turned on in my head. I feel stupid for ever losing your friendship, but I'm glad I did. I'm sure if I didn't, we wouldn't have the feelings we have now." I said all of that with no irony and with more passion than I had put into anything in my life. I was so happy, nervous, thrilled... all of those things at once. I'd never felt like this before. I was relieved and glad and smiling at her just as much as she was smiling at me.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked.

"I honestly don't know. I have no experience with these types of things." And I had gotten crap my entire teenage years about that fact.

"Like I do?" We both laughed. She had just about as much experience as I did with things like this.

"Let's go on a date," I said. It seemed like the right thing to do.

"When?" she asked, and I thought about it. I hadn't thought that far ahead.

"I want it to be really special. I'll get back to you, I promise. But for now, just come here." She scooted her body over to mine and I wrapped my long arms around her cold shoulders. It felt right to have her here with me. I never wanted to let her go. Ever. But, of course, it was inevitable. After a few moments I got up and pulled her up with me. We began walking down the stairs slowly, and still, no one noticed our entrance. I felt Bella stiffen next to me.

"What do we tell them?" She asked urgently.

"What do you want to tell them?" I asked. She should be able to decide who to tell and who not to tell. She was embarrassed a lot easier than I was. I knew she had fears of relationships and what other people would think of them.

"How about I tell Alice first? That would be better." I nodded. We both knew Alice: she would want to be the first to know.

"Hey, Alice," she called, "can I talk to you for a moment privately?" I let go of Bella's hand and went to sit next to Emmett on the couch. He and Rose were being extremely immature by playing the "in my pants" game with every television show that was on.

"Uh, yeah, sure thing, Bella," Alice said, prancing over to where my love was and they vanished inside the kitchen. Rosalie and Emmett were laughing hysterically at their little game (A/N: for the 2 people who don't know what that is, it's where you take the name of something [mostly road signs, since it's one you play when you're in the car] and at the end of the title, you add "in my pants" and a lot of 12 year olds do it. Example: "Stop... in my pants. Pedestrian crossing... in my pants. really immature, as you can see.) Jasper came beside me with his new gaming magazine, which he must have snuck in. Alice would have thrown a hissy fit if she caught him with that at _her_ party. She wanted him to be completely engrossed with what she wanted him to do. Anyway, we began discussing which would be better, the Beatles Guitar Hero or Metallica. We both agreed that Metallica would definitely be better, but continued to talk about the reasons for a Beatles Guitar Hero. Just then, I heard Alice scream at the top of her lungs.

"Alice, honey, are you okay?" Jasper called. He knew better than to get nervous at this, since this was normal for her to do.

"Yes, Jasper, I'm fine, just so EXCITED!" she screamed again. Alice will be Alice, I thought. After a few more minutes, they emerged from the other room. Bella had a huge smile on her face, but then groaned when she realized that Emmett and Rose were still playing their game and laughing their heads off.

"Come on, guys, grow up!" She said, clearly annoyed. Emmett just came over and hugged her.

"Never, little sister," he said. That was his little nickname for her, as I had come to know. He picked her up and lifted her over his head as she squealed.

"Put me down, Emmett!" she said, screaming and giggling her pretty little face off. He eventually let her down gently and she readjusted her dress self-consciously again. I then went to stand by my love's side.

"We kinda have an announcement to make," Bella started.

"YOU'RE PREGNANT!" Emmett screamed. Everyone broke into giggles, including Bella and I.

"No, stupid. Well, Edward and I have been talking and I guess we're together now." Emmett began clapping.

"My baby's all growed up," he said, fake crying. We all laughed again.

"Congratulations, you two," Rose said. "You two... I knew there was something there. Seriously. I'm really glad that two of the best people in the world finally realized what they needed." She walked over to hug us both and kiss our cheeks lightly.

"I'm really happy for you guys," Jasper said. I knew he was happy for us. He just wasn't good at saying things to people, especially compliments. None of us took it personally, Jasper just wasn't a people person.

After that, we all got into our pajamas and played the boring board games and video games like before. I was surprisingly having fun and it was good to have Bella with me. It felt perfect, like we were meant to be. I didn't feel so alone anymore. I felt like I could take on the world. We decided to go to bed at about three in the morning, which was a relatively good time considering how much caffeine we'd all consumed. I laid my sleeping bag right next to Bella's and we climbed in. I just stared into her eyes until she fell asleep. I still couldn't sleep. I just watched her. Her quiet breathing, her chest moving up and down, her eyelids fluttering a little while she dreamed. She then began mumbling. First it was just grunts and sounds, but then she began to say full words.

"Uhh. I'm cold," she mumbled.

"Well, I can help with that," I whispered. I unzipped my sleeping bag fully before opening hers fully. Bella shivered a little. Then, I picked her up and pulled her over to where my sleeping bag had been. I laid her back down and crawled underneath the covers next to her, pulling my sleeping bag over us both. She snuggled into my chest as I began to hum to her. I stroked her back gently as she began to mumble again.

"I love you, Edward," she said softly. My heart stopped. I smiled. So she did love me as much as I did her? I felt like I could do anything now. Honestly, I did. I kept thinking about how amazing that life with Bella was going to be.

"I love you, too," I whispered before kissing the top of my angel's head and closing my eyes.

_A/N: Again, AAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I have been looking forward to this chapter forever!!!! I love the way it turned out._


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Nothing..._

I woke up before anyone else. I was cursed with the ability to stay awake for almost days at a time. Well, actually, I just needed a minimal amount of sleep to function. Sometimes it was a blessing, others it was a curse. Now, I was considering it a blessing. I looked down onto my chest to see that Bella still had not moved from where she'd laid her head last night. The mumbling had stopped and she was now sleeping peacefully. I laid there with my eyes closed, just feeling her against me.

"AAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" Alice whispered loudly, causing me to open one eye and look at her. I quickly closed it and she walked off. Slowly but surely the others began waking up and having the same reaction as Alice. They filtered out of the room to go get breakfast and get dressed while Bella still slept peacefully.

"Edward, we're going outside for a little while, it snowed," Jasper came in to tell me. "You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna dump Bella on the ground. No, you idiot," I said jokingly. We both laughed a little.

"Okay. Your loss, though," he said before heading out the door. It was nice and quiet in the house again and I listened to Bella's breathing. Finally, she started to move a little bit. Then, she bolted straight up in the air, looking around to see where she was, disoriented.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice trembling a little.

"Well, you're quite funny when you sleep," I said, not answering the question. She glared at me, or at least tried to. I busted into laughter at her attempt to be mean. "You talk," I said, finally answering her question. All the color left from Bella's cheeks and her breathing came faster and harder. When she spoke, she tried her best to sound like she didn't care, but she really did. It was very humorous.

"Oh, yeah, I know I do sometimes. So, uh, what did I say?" Color came back into her cheeks, turning them brighter than they had been before.

"Nothing, really. Just that you were cold. I said I could help with that and I picked you up and moved you over here." She looked down, finally noticing how the sleeping bags were arranged.

"Anything else?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well, just one other thing-"

"What was it?" she said quickly, cutting me off. She looked around, probably trying to see where everyone else was. Then, we heard someone scream from outside, and it sounded like Rose. Then, I answered her.

"You said 'I love you, Edward.'" If it was possible, Bella began breathing even harder. I put my arm around her soothingly.

"What's wrong with that, love?" I asked, wondering what could be wrong. And I called her love... because it was true.

"No, it's not that. It's just... so embarrassing to have you hear like that. I thought that the first time I would tell a guy I was in love with him, I would have a little more dignity," she said quietly. I had to laugh a little at that. That was it?

"I don't mind. I want to let you in on a little secret, Bella. I love you, too." There, I said it. It was out on the table for her to see. I _wanted _her to see how much I loved her. I had been denying it for too long. I was relieved now, as I had been last night when I admitted that I liked her back. I leaned over to kiss her warm cheek. We were both being very serious now, and we were too young to feel that way. "Hey, Bella, come here," I said, getting up and looking out the window. "Let's go outside!"

"Awesome, sure, just a minute, though," she said, crawling over to her bag and rummaging through it to get things. I went to my bag and grabbed clothes as well. My blue sweater that an emo kid would wear, my extremely dark blue jeans, and one other thing I hadn't used in a long time. I reached into my eyes and pulled out my contacts, placing them back in the case. I then reached in and pulled out my glasses with their thick, black rims and thick frames. I came out to wait for Bella. When she came down, she looked beautiful, as always. She took one look at me and giggled.

"What?" I said. "I'm just giving you your dream guy back. Plus, I need to use these things every once in a while. Contacts can get irritating." It was true. We walked over to put on our coats, scarves, and gloves and held hands as we walked outside. We were barely out the door when a big, white, cold ball of something hit me in the cheek. I knew automatically it was Emmett. I turned to Bella.

"Hold on just a second," I said, running towards Emmett and bending down to get enough snow for a snowball at the same time. I made it and threw it at the back of Emmett's head. But I missed slightly. I hit Alice and ran for my life as she turned around screaming.

"Oh, hell, no," she squealed, making a snowball of her own and accidently hitting Rose. Rose screamed with delight.

"It's on, bitch!" she screamed, throwing her ball and hitting Alice. I looked over to see Jasper sneaking to Bella and then she noticed him. She took off running as the snowball hit her on the back. She chased Jasper around the yard, just picking up handfuls of snow and throwing them at him. I continued my fight with Alice and Rosalie as Emmett went over to Bella. He picked her up and spun her around. She giggled loudly, screaming for him to put her down. Finally, he complied. We were all extremely out of breath and tired in a few minutes, one of the problems with getting old.

We laid in the snow quietly afterward. We stared up at the big, gray sky. I held Bella's hand, as she held Rose's, Rose holding Emmett's, Emmett's holding Alice's, and Alice's holding Jasper's. We sometimes made random remarks, but for the most part, we were silent, just thinking. It was good to be with people who we cared about and who cared about us. All too soon, we realized it was time for us to go home. We went inside to grab our things before heading out on the porch and hugging each other. I walked Bella to her truck. I had thought about what I wanted to do for our first date. I heard about it on the radio the other day. It was more than a month away, but I knew in my heart that it would be perfect for Bella and I to do on our first date.

"You still like Linkin Park, right?" I asked, clarifying as we reached the truck.

"Of course, always, why?"

"Nothing," I lied. I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "I'll call you later, is that okay?"

"Yes. Edward?" she called as I began walking off.

"What is it, love?" I said, turning back towards her.

"Well, I want you to meet my parents." I was glad she had mentioned it. We were both old-fashioned, and before we officially went out, I wanted to meet her parents and make sure that they were okay with us dating, and the same for her and my parents. I'd almost forgotten about them. Esme would be thrilled for sure, and Carlisle would just want to make sure I knew what I was getting into.

"Of course I will! Don't worry about it," I said, kissing her head again. I looked at her smiling face. "When?"

"How about tomorrow?" she asked.

"Sounds perfect. Bella, would you meet my parents as well?"

"I'm going to have to sometime, so sure." She sighed. I knew it would be nerve-wracking, but she knew she'd have to do it sometime.

"I'll get back to you with the day and time, okay?"

"Sure." I hugged her and ran off to the Volvo. I wanted to drive off first to make sure the roads were okay. They didn't look very slick, but I wanted Bella to be safe. I made sure she got home before speeding off to my home. I walked in and sat my jacket on its hook and went to the living room. Esme was sitting at her desk in the corner, drawing something, probably designing another house or trying to figure out how to redecorate our bathroom. I leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Hey, Mom," I said.

"Hello," she said, turning around to pull me into a hug. "How was it at Alice's?"

"Fine. There's something I sort of wanted to talk to you about," I said, my father walking in. He sat on the couch and my mother moved to sit by him. I stood in front of both of them.

"What is it, son?" Dad asked.

"It's nothing bad," I said before I began. They both were looking concerned, like I was about to tell them I was expelled from school or into hard drugs. They both loosened a little. "Well, do you remember Bella Swan?" They both nodded. When I was younger, she was almost all I talked about. She was my world, even then. "Um, I... Well, we're dating now." I smile as wide as the Grand Canyon spread across Esme's face. She jumped up, quicker than I'd seen her move in quite a while to pull me into a hug.

"Oh, Edward!" she exclaimed. "I want to formally meet her as soon as possible, you know. I want to see who is dating my baby boy."

"Ugh, Mom," I said, half jokingly. "I'm actually going to meet her parents tomorrow, but I promise you that you'll meet her before our first date." Carlisle now spoke.

"Are you happy with her?"

"More happy than I've ever been in my life." Carlisle nodded.

"Then I'm glad for you," he responded. I smiled at my parents.

"Well, I'm a little tired, and I didn't get much sleep, so I'm going to take a nap," I said, yawning and stretching my arms up over my head.

"Okay, darling," Mom called up the stairs. I went to my bed and fell asleep almost instantly. I slept until I was awakened to the sound of my phone playing "Papercut" by Linkin Park: Bella's ringtone. She told me the time to be over at her house, making the phone call as short as possible. I guessed that she sensed I was tired. I then slept until the next day, surprisingly without waking up or dreaming. I woke up and spent the rest of the day calming myself for the meeting I was about to have. I hadn't felt nervous when I agreed to this, but I was now. What about her dad? Was he going to be one of those dads that cleans the guns right in front of the new boyfriend? I shuddered to think of it. Finally, at about four, I went to take my shower and get dressed. I chose my ivory turtleneck sweater and blue jeans. It was nice, but not too formal, which seemed good. I drove over to Bella's house slowly. I did everything slowly. Unbuckling my seatbelt, opening and shutting the car door, walking to the porch, knocking on the door. Bella came to answer it. She was blushing lightly and wearing an ivory turtleneck and blue jeans as well. I smiled and kissed both of her cheeks before entering the house. She led me to the living room, holding my hand. I was surprised when Bella's mother came over and hugged me.

"Oh, I've been dying to meet you! I'm so glad that Bella finally got a boyfriend!" I could almost feel Bella cringe beside me. I just looked at her and smiled. Next, Chief Swan came over to give me a handshake. I shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you," he said gruffly.

"Nice to meet you, too, sir," I said, using the best manners that I could. I looked down to see Bella beaming at me. I didn't know what for. Bella then took me to the kitchen where food was already on the table and plates and silverwear had been set. We made smalltalk all through the meal, which was nice and not as awkward as Bella and I had expected. After dinner, Bella went to do dishes and I went into the living room and watched the game with her father. After they finished up, the women joined us. We made more conversation as the night went on and it was surprisingly a lot of fun. The evening flew by and before we knew it, it was nine. I stood up, for it was time for me to get home.

"Well, thank you all so much for having me over, but it's about time I got home," I said politely. Bella rose beside me and Renee walked over to hug me one last time. Bella's father shook my hand again. I got the feeling he didn't hate me as much as it seemed. Bella walked me to the door.

"I'll call you tomorrow, I promise," I said. "I was thinking: what about February 25th? Are you available that day?"

"As far as I know. Why?"

"Because that's when our first date is going to be."

"So far away?" She grumbled.

"Time flies when you're having fun, Bells," I said, kissing her cheek and heading to the car and driving down the road, a big smile on my face. I was king of the world.

_A/N: Okay, two movie references in there. Both of them were fairly popular movies, so if you want to guess them and find out what they are, just PM me and I'll tell you or tell you if they're right or what. At the end of this story, in my last little author's note, I'll say what they were._


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: It's about noon and I really want to finish this story so I can move on to Thoroughly Modern Bella... I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my stories, but I'm a little tired of this one. I actually know what's going to happen._

I woke up earlier than normal for my first day back to school after the break. Now that Bella and I were "going out," I wanted to be able to do everything that a good boyfriend does for a girlfriend, which includes picking her up from school. I got dressed and actually tried to look nice for once. I found myself thinking _Why? It's just Bella._ But that's the thing. It wasn't just Bella. It was my whole world. I finished dressing and rushed to my car to get to Bella's house before she decided to leave. I really wanted to surprise her with this. Before I could even get out of my car, Bella came running to throw herself into the passenger's seat, kissing my cheek and strapping in before I drove off.

We held hands all the way to school and held hands once we arrived. Everyone stared at us, and we both pretended not to know why. Bella's friends and people she mostly had classes with smiled back at her with approving and congratulatory looks. All the girls that had stared at me with longing now stared at me with disgust and stared at Bella with jealousy. Bella was strong, though, and did not give those girls a second glance. She continued walking until we reached her first class, before kissing my cheek and walking inside.

Now, I would sit with Bella every day at lunch. I promised her that I would stay with her every day until she no longer wanted me. When I said those words, she looked at me like her heart was about to burst open, before throwing her arms around my neck and holding me close to her. We were having a great time at lunch, just chatting with our friends and laughing, until Mike Newton showed up. Gosh, did he have anyone else to bug? He pulled up a chair and sat in it backwards, facing us.

"So, training starts today for track and I was just thinking about how it's gonna go, I mean, I really want to go to state again and I want to win this time and I know you're gonna help us," he said, but I really didn't care. "So, what about it?" I thought about it for a second. It was something I'd really considered not doing this year because, frankly, I was tired of Mike. I needed to get away from him, and I was already pretty good at track. I wanted to work on cross country and make that my prime focus.

"Actually, Mike, I don't think I'm going to do track this year," I said. Silence followed and I could feel everyone at the table staring at me with bulging eyes and opened mouths. I looked back to Mike and then to Bella, each of them wearing identical masks of disbelief.

"W-wh-what?" Mike stuttered. "You- You're the best we've ever had at sprints. No. No, you HAVE to be on the team," he said, finally getting angry. That's when I snapped.

"No, Mike, I really don't," I said coldly before continuing. "I have my priorities, and it's not like I'm giving up cross country. That's what I'm not so good at, so I'm gonna work on improving that. Everyone knows I can sprint," I said, a bit smug, grinning crookedly. "But I want to work on improving my cross country times." Mike then glanced at Bella. In that moment, I wanted to kill him for the look he was giving her. A look of disdain and disgust. I knew him well enough to know what he was thinking: "It's because of her, right?" It surprised me he didn't say it out loud. I could sense that Bella was wondering the same thing.

"Well, then I guess there isn't nothing to talk about," Mike said as he turned to walk away. All of the sudden, I was nerdy Edward again, the guy who had to correct this grammatical error.

"Don't you mean 'isn't anything,' Mike?" I asked innocently as Mike turned red and rushed away. When he got far enough away, we all started busting up. After our little laughing fit was over, Bella turned to look me straight in the eyes.

"Is that because of me?"

"What?" I said in plain confusion.

"Am I the reason you aren't doing track this season?" she asked. I laughed. She could be so silly sometimes.

"No. Well, actually, yes. Being around you again made me remember how much of a jerk Mike is. Ugh." she smiled up at me, causing me to have to catch my breath.

"I told you so," she said superiorly. The bell then rang and we walked to the next class together, still avoiding all the glances and glares we received.

The next month was one of the best of my life. Bella and I hadn't really kissed, but that wasn't important. Bella seemed just content to hold my hand and talk and hug, and I really didn't want to push her into something she didn't want to do. I knew that the kiss on New Year's Day had been her first kiss, and mine as well. In our minds, that one didn't count because it had been short and we'd both been nervous and it just wasn't... right. When we had declared our love, it was done quickly and been thrown out of the way. Now that we had gotten to that part, we knew that we could be open about anything and not have to worry about judgment or ridicule. We were completely comfortable together and our connection was magical. Our hearts had been put on the line so early in our relationship, first thing, which made us closer. Yeah, we bickered and argued about small things, but for the most part, our relationship was going smoothly and steadily. Every day, I fell more and more in love with her.

I continued to pick Bella up for school every day, and no one stared after the first day. We were just like any other normal couple that attended Forks High School. As time went on, Bella became more impatient about learning where our first date was going to be and what we were doing.

"Edward, what are we doing for our date?" she asked one morning in the car on the way to school. It was the middle of February, the fourteenth, to be exact. And I knew Bella forgot what it was.

"Oh, I can't tell you for a little while," I said, finally answering her question. It was going to be a surprise until the last minute.

"Come on," she whined. She had done everything to get me to tell her, begged, whined, given me the silent treatment, buttering me up, everything. I wasn't going to budge.

"No."

"Just one hint, please?" she asked, pouting at me. She looked so adorable that I was about to give in. But I didn't..

"Bella, do you know what today is?" I asked.

"Tuesday," I said confused.

"Date?" I said. She paused and her eyes got wider.

"Oh, gosh, I forgot! Sorry. Happy Valentine's Day?" she said like a question. I just smiled at her. I knew she'd forget a little thing like this.

"I knew you'd forget. That's why I didn't," I said as we pulled into school. I pulled in our regular parking spot and reached into the backseat, pulling out a heart-shaped box full of chocolate.

"Edward, you really didn't-"

"Don't you dare say I didn't have to," I warned. I was the boyfriend and I had a right to spoil the love of my life on Valentine's Day.

"But now I feel bad that I didn't get you anything," she said sheepishly, looking down at her hands.

"I knew you would, that's why I have a favor to ask," I said. "Would you come over to dinner with my parents tonight?" It seemed like the perfect plan to me. She still needed to meet my parents before the date, and I had another plan for tonight...

"Of course. It would only be fair," she said. I could tell that she was instantly nervous. I told her I'd be there to pick her up around six so that both she and I would have time to get ready. I was just as nervous as she looked, but I hid it better. After getting Bella home, I went home and showered and got on black dress pants and a white dress shirt. I told Bella that this would be probably more formal than dinner at her house. I told her I wanted it to be, because it was Valentine's Day. I was still nervous when I left my house to pick Bella up. My mother was cooking when I left and was extremely excited to finally get to meet Bella.

As we drove back to the house we were both silent. I pulled up to my ridiculously gigantic house and I could almost feel Bella's awe as it emerged from behind the trees. She'd never been here before, but I knew she knew where it was. I held her hand as I helped her out of the car and we entered the house. My mother had done an excellent job on the cooking and it smelled delicious. I took Bella's coat as she shrugged out of it. Only then did I get the full effect of what she was wearing. It was a stunning black dress that made her look completely gorgeous and it took my breath away as I stared at her.

"Bella- you look beautiful." It was an understatement, for sure. She blushed a deep red color.

"Thank you." I kissed her cheek just before my mother walked in. Not that she would have minded the fact I was kissing Bella. She was just dying for me to fall in love and be happy with someone. She walked over to us and hugged Bella gently.

"Oh, Bella, you look lovely! I'm Esme, Edward's mother. It's so very very nice to meet you, darling. You're always welcome here, I want you to know," she said, smiling the entire time. She seemed very pleased with Bella. Then, my father walked in.

"Welcome, Bella," he said, hugging her as well. I knew Bella wasn't very big on hugs with complete strangers, but she didn't seem to mind the ones that came from my parents. It seemed as though all of her fears had been for nothing, for everything was running smoothly.

"Well, come to the dining room, Bella, the food is ready," Esme said, leading us into the dining room. Carlisle sat at the head of the table, while Esme sat on his left, and I was at his right. Bella sat right next to me as we ate and talked about things and laughed over our adventures in life. After dinner, Bella wanted to help Esme clean up, but she wouldn't hear it.

"You're a guest, darling. No, you go with Edward." She followed me out of the room and I began to give her the tour of the house. She was amazed at how big it was and how many rooms and things there were. She was especially amazed with the fact that we basically had a library. I reached the room at the end of the hall on the third floor, but stopped her before she went in.

"You can't go in yet. There's something I have to do first." I led me down to another room in that hallway. I opened the door slowly to reveal my big black grand piano. I took her over to the bench and she sat down beside me. I started to play the piece that I had composed recently... because of her. I let all my emotions flow into my playing for her. It made me feel completely vulnerable and open to her. I ended the song and looked to Bella, who had tears of joy in her eyes.

"I wrote that for you, you know," he said. "Happy Valentine's Day, love." She smiled and laid her head on my shoulder as I rocked her. I didn't want to move her, but there was still one part of my plan we hadn't gotten to yet. I took her hand in mine, leaving my other arm around her waist as I took her into my room. I let go of her to go grab a bouquet of roses, so red they were nearly black. She took them in her arms and inhaled their scent.

"They're lovely," she said, looking amazed.

"Just like you," I said. I then reached into the drawer next to my bedside table and pulled out a long, rectangular, black velvet box. I took the roses from her and laid the box delicately in her tiny hands. She opened the box and gasped at the silver bracelet I had bought her. It had a locket charm on it in the shape of a heart. "Open it," I said. She obeyed and read the words I had put inside the locket. It said"I love you" on one side and "Forever" on the other. As she read it, tears came into her eyes and she looked up into my eyes, hers rimmed with red.

"Thank you, Edward. This is perfect," she said, smiling and kissing my cheek.

"So, you like it?" I asked just to clarify.

"No. I love it! Help me put it on, please," she said excitedly. I was glad she liked these gifts because I knew how she normally was. I knew she didn't want to make me feel bad and she just put on an act most of the time, but tonight, she seemed genuinely happy to receive these gifts. I undid the clasp to the bracelet and gently fastened it to her wrist. After I was done, I held onto her hand. I then leaned my face towards hers and kissed her. This was our first kiss. It was nothing like the little peck I'd given her before, but was just as chaste. I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable by shoving my tongue down her throat. After a few moments, she wrapped her arms around my neck and ran her fingers through my hair, my hands tightening around her waist as she did. After we were done, we looked into each other's eyes. I smiled my crooked smile and she smiled back. I then helped her get her gifts into the Volvo to drive her home. I walked her to her doorstep, kissing her once more, quickly, my heart racing, as was hers. I drove the familiar road home slowly, reluctant to part with my love. I kept replaying the events of the night over and over and remembering how perfect everything was. She was everything I wanted and more... so much more.

_A/N: I love writing from Edward's perspective!!!! Every time I end a chapter, I just want to go "AWWWW!!!" and I bet you guys are getting tired of it. Anyway, thank you!!!! Review, please!!!!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: I can't wait to be done with this story... gosh, I can't wait..._

February 25th was on the way, and Bella was about to die from anticipation. I still hadn't told her where we were going, and she was about to kill me for it.

"Where are we going?" she asked for the millionth time in the past few weeks. We were just getting out of biology and I was going to walk her to gym and then head off to Spanish. I knew how much she hated gym and she loved to procrastinate going there. I sighed.

"I suppose it is about time I let you know, since we're going tomorrow," I said, but I wasn't going to let her get it that easily. "I'll tell you on the way home today." She looked like she wanted to slap me. I smiled.

"Okay. Thank you," she said, forcing politeness. We were right outside the doors to the gym and she reached over to hug me around the waist. We still didn't kiss much, and never in public. It was a private thing and neither of us wanted to display how much we loved each other. It would make us both uncomfortable, anyway, since we both believed that physical gestures of love were extremely private things. I held on to her cold shoulders.

"I love you," I whispered in my ear, feeling her shiver. I could feel the bracelet I'd given her against the small of my back. I knew she hadn't taken it off since she had received it.

"I love you, too." We'd gotten in the habit of saying it out loud to each other, and every time she did, it felt like my heart was going to explode and I got butterflies in my stomach. Her love made me sound like an adolescent girl. She held me tighter and then released me before walking towards the locker room. I turned to go to Spanish before I saw Mike Newton pass me, throwing me a glare. I didn't like the way he was looking at me and I didnt' trust him anymore. I felt like I was going to have to keep a close eye on him. After school, I walked Bella out to the car. She seemed like there was something agitating her besides the fact that I still hadn't told her where we were going.

"Tell me, please!" she squealed as we began pulling out. She sounded like Alice.

"Calm down, Bells," I said. "Okay. I hope you like it." I reached into the glove box in front of her and handed her two rectangular shaped pieces of paper. She stared at it for a moment, trying to read the small script. Then, she screamed.

"OH, MY GOSH! LINKIN PARK! SEATTLE? FRONT ROW?! NO WAY!!!!" This was the most excited I'd ever seen her about anything. I was extremely glad that she liked it. She leaned over to place a wet kiss on my cheek. I was grinning widely as we continued down the road. "Thank you so much, Edward!"

"So, I take it that you like it?"

"Of course! How could I not?!" She beamed at me with love in her eyes. I could tell she was already planning what she was going to wear and do and how everything was going to work out. I didn't need to plan: I knew everything was going to be absolutely perfect. We reached her house and I came in with her, as I did almost every day out of habit. We usually watched television until her parents got home from work, and then I went home. That was our routine every night. This night was no different from any other and I kissed her before I left, telling her I'd pick her up at three the next afternoon.

I couldn't sleep. I normally couldn't sleep, anyway, but this anticipation was just making it worse. I couldn't wait to be with Bella and I couldn't wait to see our favorite band perform. It was going to be perfect. The next day dragged on and on until three. I had dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, as always.

We stopped at the Italian restaurant in Port Angeles and Bella had tones of Coke, which made her talk more and made her more nervous (I could just tell).

We arrived early in Seattle and got up front and waited. I thought Bella was going to die from happiness as we listened to the sound of guitars and Chester. I could feel the vibrations from the bass and the crowd flowing through my body and through Bella's. My arm was always wrapped around her waist, never letting my skin move from her's. We just listened to the extremely loud music and complicated beats, getting lost in it.

"Okay, best song performed tonight: 'What I've Done'," she said when we had gotten out and walked to the car. Neither of us could quit smiling or laughing. We were both just completely blissed out.

"No, no, no, 'Leave Out All the Rest' was the best song," I disagreed.

"Whatever," she said, giving up. We couldn't even think straight. I was just so glad to be with her, the woman I loved, the love of my life.

We talked about the concert the entire way home and listened to the CD in the car as well, singing along with every song. When we got to Bella's, her parents weren't home. She took my hand and led me to the couch, pulling me down beside her. She turned on the television and curled up into my side, my arms wrapped around her, my fingers playing with her hair. After the concert, it had begun to rain, and it was now raining in Forks. It was expected, since the day had been so sunny and perfect. It could only last a little while. Out of nowhere, we heard a click and the television and lights went out.

"Ugh," she groaned, getting up to get some candles. She got them and placed them in various rooms throughout the house. When she came back, I just looked into her eyes in the candlelight. I felt confident and I moved to brush my fingers along the length of her face before moving to trace her eyebrows, nose, cheeks, and lastly, her mouth. I leaned forward, wanting to kiss her more than I ever had before. Our lips touched and the kiss was the same as all the others. Her lips then parted and she sighed. I pulled her closer to me as our kiss became... well, not so chaste anymore. I leaned back farther, pulling her with me until she was leaning into me. Her hands were in my hair and mine were running over her back and playing with her hair. Her touch was electric on my skin. She moved her hands down my arms and chest, lighting a fire inside me. Finally, we stopped and just sat there, our breathing heavier than before.

I just made out with Bella Swan. Something I'd wanted to do since... well, forever. I didn't feel the way I expected either. I expected I would feel triumphant, like I'd just won a trophy. But instead, now I felt like she was the reason for my life. All I could think about was how madly in love with her I was. Then, I leaned all the way back, pulling her fragile body on top of me. We just laid there, thinking. Occasionally, I would kiss her hair or I would feel her lips brush across my chest or neck. Finally, I realized she was asleep. And her parents were pulling in the driveway. I pulled her into my arms, quickly but gently. I ran her up the stairs and placed her gently in bed, pulling the covers over her. I leaned down to kiss her forehead, then her lips before writing her a quick note.

"Bella,

Your parents came home and I decided to put you in bed. I didn't want to have to explain things to them. Sorry that I didn't get a chance to say 'Goodnight.' I love you.

Edward"

I went downstairs and got there just before they walked in the door.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Swan. Bella just got tired and went to bed and I was on my way out," I said, trying to sound like I hadn't just made out with their daughter.

"How was the concert, Edward?" Renee asked me.

"Oh, it was amazing, really great," I replied.

"Did Bella have a good time?" Charlie asked.

"I think she did."

"Well, then goodnight, Edward," Charlie said. "Why are all the lights out?" he asked. I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks as I thought about what he must have been thinking, and I was thankful there was minimal lighting. I felt like Bella.

"Oh, the power went out, sir," I answered automatically. He gave me a skeptical look, but I ignored it. He was trying to think of some reason not to trust me, but couldn't find any.

"Well, I'd better get home before my parents start to worry," I said, heading out the door.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Renee called after me as I stepped into the pouring rain. I smiled as I recalled the events from the night and couldn't help thinking that Bella was the one for me.

_A/N: Ha, Ha, it's short!!!! And there, I did a little bit more describing on the making-out part, so I hope you're happy._


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: About 3 more chapters left. Since nothing major happens here and you already know what happens, I'm just going to combine some things and add a few little things in in Edward's world._

I arrived at Bella's house on Monday morning and was surprised not to see her standing at the door waiting for me like normal. I waited a few minutes before deciding to go see what was wrong. I knocked on the door and waited. I knocked again.

"Bella?" I called. Nothing. I knew it was time to go in to see what was up. I walked in to see Bella laying on the couch looking miserable. She was still in her pajama bottoms and slippers with a button up shirt on, but open, revealing the upper half of her body. I was too worried about Bella to even think about how sexy her body was. I know, I vowed I'd never use that word about a woman, but I couldn't help it. Bella was extremely sexy to me, but right now, she looked like she was about to pass out or die. Her eyes were closed and her arm was covering her forehead. I rushed to her side to whisper in her ear.

"Bella, love, what's wrong?" She opened her eyes for a moment before shutting them again. "Bella, what can I do for you?" She groaned. I knew she didn't like being taken care of, but clearly, she was sick.

"Go away, Edward. I'm sick. Just go without me, I'll be fine," she mumbled.

"On the contrary, I don't believe you will. No, I'm going to stay right here until you are all better." I grinned at her. I knew she wouldn't like me around to see her throw up or whatever, but it was going to happen eventually anyway. I stopped myself. Was... What were our plans for the future? Were we going to get married and have kids and all that fun stuff? Or were we strictly a high school thing? No, we weren't a high school thing. In that moment, I realized that I wanted Bella by my side forever, day and night, year after year, until death do us part, the whole shebang.

"No, honestly, just go. I don't want you to get in trouble for ditching," she said, pulling me from my visions of our life together.

"Ditching is healthy every once in a while. I'm sure my good grades will be there when I return," I said, still smiling. "Plus, this is practice for the future." I stopped, not wanting to scare her off. "I'm going to be taking care of tons of girls like you for the rest of my life," I paused, "but you'll always be my favorite." That made her smile a little. "Right now, you need some sleep, though, love... and you might want to button up your shirt." She blushed brighter than I'd ever seen her blush before. She reached down and fumbled with the buttons, but she was too tired to do anything. I took her hands and moved them aside gently, taking over. I began doing the buttons, working my way down her stomach. My hands would lightly brush along her tender skin, making her blush even more.

"Sorry," she said. Why was she apologizing? It's not like I didn't want to see her in that way, I just knew she wasn't ready for that quite yet.

"No, it's not that... I mean, I am a man, but I was just looking out for your best interests. I know you. If I just let you walk around like that all day without knowing, you'd hate me," I laughed. After I was done, she curled up at the end of the couch and drifted to sleep. At first, I just watched her sleep, making sure she would be alright. It was amazing how much I cared for her and how quickly she'd taken up every aspect of my life. Later, I began watching a little bit of television and it became lunchtime. I knew Bella would be waking soon, so I scrounged around the kitchen for a can of chicken noodle soup for her. I found a tray and some crackers and carried the soup out to her with a glass of water. I came in to find she had just woken up.

"You look so much better, beautiful," I said, bending to kiss the top of her head. "I made this for you. You'll want to drink tons of water to help keep you hydrated, and chicken noodle soup always helps." She began eating the soup slowly, trying to make sure she could handle it. She was trying to be a good patient and listen to me. After she finished, I helped her get wrapped up in a blanket and she laid her feet in my lap.

She was in and out the rest of the day. She would randomly fall asleep and wake up. Every time she woke up, I would ask her how she felt and what she needed, trying to take care of her. By the end of the day, she was fully recovered. When her parents arrived home, I kissed her hair and left. I was worrying all night about whether or not the bug would come back, but my dad just told me it seemed like a normal 24 hour virus and it was more than likely gone.

The next day, I rushed to Bella's house and she was waiting by the door like always. The day was uneventful and there was hardly any work to do. We were in the car on the way home when Bella seemed to be thinking about something.

"Light homework tonight, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm so glad. The less homework I have, the more time I can spend with the love of my life." I glanced over to see her blush.

"So spending time with me? Well, would you be against going out on another "date" with me?" I laughed. She was being ridiculous.

"Of course not! When?" She paused.

"... Right now...?" It came out sounding like a question.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Port Angeles. I need to do something."

"Sure. I just have to call my parents and say not to expect me home for a little while." I pulled out my phone and dialed the number to the hospital.

"Hello, Forks General Hospital Reception, how may I help you?" a nice woman asked.

"Yes, Could I speak to Dr. Carlisle Masen, please?"

"And who may I say is calling?"

"It's his son, Edward."

"Okay, he'll be right with you," she said before putting me on hold. A moment later, I heard my father's voice on the other end of the line.

"What is it, Edward?" he asked, sounding quite concerned. I never usually called the hospital.

"Hey, Dad, I was wondering if it would be okay if Bella and I went to Port Angeles for a while."

"Of course. It's fine. Just be home by nine, okay?"

"Okay, yeah, I'll be home by nine... sure."

"I love you son, be careful," he said, lovingly.

"I love you too, Dad, bye." I hung up and turned to Bella. "Do you need to call Charlie and Renee?"

"I guess," she replied. About thirty seconds later, she began talking to what I guessed was a machine. "Hey, it's Bella, I'm going with Edward to Port Angeles, so I should be back before nine. Love you guys, bye!" She said, shutting the phone and grabbing my hand. I drove quickly down the highway until we got to Port Angeles at around 3:30. It was raining fairly hard, but it had been harder. I pulled in front of the bookstore because I had a feeling this is where Bella needed to go.

"How-" she began, with me cutting her off.

"I know you, Bella. You sometimes forget these things, love," I chuckled and opened first her car door, then the door to the shop. Janet was sitting behind the counter reading a book with both of her legs propped up when we walked in. She immediately grabbed my hand and approached the counter slowly. Janet finally looked up to see who we were, before her eyes darted to our intertwined hands. A smile spread across her wrinkled face.

"Oh, there's my two favorite customers," she said, smiling. "Is there anything I can help you with? If I may be so bold, I think I helped Bella here a lot the last time she was here." Bella cheeks became red and I leaned down to kiss them.

"I'm pretty sure you did, Janet," I said. I had had a feeling that Janet had something to do with Bella's declaration.

"Glad I could help. I knew from the moment I saw you two together that there was something there. You just needed to see it for yourselves," she stopped for a moment and sighed. "Do you need help with anything in particular today, dears?"

"No, thank you. I'm going to go look for something really quick," I said, leaving the women alone to talk for a moment. I knew Bella would want to thank Janet for the advice. A few minutes later I heard a squeal and Bella's voice yelling uncharacteristically.

"OH JANET!!!! OF COURSE!!!!!" I came running towards the counter to see Bella's arms wrapped around Janet's shoulders.

"And of course, that young man is most welcome to join you as well," she said.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH! EDWARD!" she screamed, calling me even though I was already he came running.

"What?" I asked frantically.

"Janet just offered us jobs here! Isn't it wonderful!?"

"Seriously?" I asked enthusiastically. "Really? That's amazing!" I exclaimed, turning to Janet. She began to explain to me what had just been explained to Bella that we would help her clean and organize the storage room, pick our own hours, and get books at 70% off. It sounded great. Something for Bella and me to do together that would actually get me out of the house to earn a little money. The pay was reasonable and picking our own hours would be amazing. We would start next Saturday. We waved goodbye to Janet as we left the store, our arms wrapped around each others waists as we walked out into the falling rain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On Friday at school, Alice had an announcement to make.

"Girls: I have something to say," she said, immediately getting the attention of Rose and Bella. "Now, we all have our boyfriends, but lately, I just haven't been feeling the girly bonds that we have. And the quickest way to fix that is-"

"MOVIE NIGHT!" Rose screamed. Everyone within a fifteen foot radius jumped a little. "Sorry, I've just wanted a movie night really bad with you girls lately."

"Well, I was going to say 'shopping', but Rosalie's idea works as good as any." They began making plans to meet with Alice after school for a sleepover. Bella turned to me, but didn't look me in the eye.

"So... you're okay with this, right?" hse stopped. "I mean, you don't have a problem with me being away from you for a little while?" I laughed at her and ruffled her hair.

"Bella, I'm not a dictator. I'm your boyfriend. Honestly, you can be so absurd sometimes. Why would I have a problem with you hanging out with your girlfriends every once in a while?" I smiled, causing her to blush, which in turn, caused my heart to beat a little bit faster. She kissed me quickly and moved away like she'd been shocked. She blushed and I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, pulling her up and leading her to bio. It was the first time our displays of affection had been public. It didn't bother that we had done it, because this had been out of pure love and adoration, not just the need for sexual gratification.

"Oh, about tomorrow, Edward," she said in the car on the way home, "I think I'll just drive up to Port Angeles by myself and meet you there. What time are we supposed to get there?"

"One. It's not a big deal." We were sitting in front of her house, the look in her eyes telling me she didn't want to leave me. She looked down at her hands and then into my eyes. I leaned down to kiss her passionately and to give her something to remember me by until tomorrow. After we broke away, she pecked my mouth once more and I kissed her forehead.

"I love you," I said. "More than my own life."

"I love you, too," she replied, hugging me before walking into the house. I drove off, praying that Alice didn't piss Bella off too terribly much. I still had to be with her and comfort her. I went home and worked on music. I was interrupted by my phone ringing. I looked at the caller ID.

"Hey, Mike," I said.

"Edward, you wanna come to a party?"

"Uh, not tonight, buddy."

"Why?" he asked, surprised.

"Uh, I'm gonna hang out with Bella later and do some homework," I lied.

"Oh." It was the only thing he said.

"Well, I gotta go," I lied again.

"Okay, well, talk to you later, I guess," Mike said. I hung up. I went back to work on my music. Nothing was coming to me without Bella. I sighed and decided to go out. There really was nothing to do in Forks, except drive to the Thriftway. I got in the Volvo and drove there, getting out into the rain and quickly running inside. I browsed around the aisles, nothing there that I really wanted or needed to buy. I spent about an hour just roaming around the place before deciding to go home. I walked back into the rain when a familiar voice called to me.

"Hey, Masen," Mike called.

"Hey, Mike," I called back absently.

"You pulled yourself away from that homework and girlfriend of yours for two seconds... huh. I talked to her the other day. I don't like what you've got going on there."

"What are you talking about?" I said, coming closer to him. I could smell a little alcohol.

"I don't like the fact that you're dating her. I mean, if you're trying to tap that, you could be banging way hotter chicks-" I stopped him with my fist connecting with his jaw. That was enough.

"MIKE! I'm SICK AND TIRED of your shit! You will never talk about Bella in that way again, you son of a bitch!" I screamed at him. I'd never been big on cursing, but I was tired of him. I didn't want to hurt him badly, for my punch hadn't done much damage. It wasn't intended for that much damage. I just wanted him to shut up.

"One day, you're gonna pay. You and that little bitch-" I punched him again, this time it was harder. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the pavement, passed out cold. I looked around to see where his car was, but it seemed that he hadn't brought it. He must have walked from whatever party he was at. I struggled to pick him up and throw him in my car to drive him to his house. When I got there, his parents were out, what a surprise. I had done this before when Mike had been drunk. I pulled him upstairs and put him on his bed before getting in my car and driving off. I thought about what he had said, but had to continue reminding myself that he was drunk and didn't really mean anything he said.

I got to the store early the next morning. I hadn't gotten much sleep and I needed something to do. Janet greeted me and got me working. I put all of my effort into working until Bella got there. She kissed me quickly.

"Hey, gorgeous," she said.

"Hey, beautiful," I said, kissing her back again. Just then, Janet walked out from the storage room. We quickly untangled ourselves from one another and Janet just chuckled. We went to learn (and I to re-learn) how everything was supposed to be kept and worked diligently all day. We continued to work hard, but sometimes I just couldn't stay away from Bella. I needed to touch her, to kiss her. So I would sneak away for a few moments to do that, when Janet wasn't looking. If she did notice, she didn't care. We were young and in love and that seemed to please her.

After work, we decided to go out to eat. We went to the Italian place again and I paid, despite Bella's complaints. I loved doing things for her and loved making her feel loved. It did strange things to me to know that she loved me and that I could make her the happiest person on earth.

"So, what'd you do yesterday?" I asked.

"Well, nothing. Oh, well, Mike called me, but I made up some lame excuse. I had some 'homework' to do. He seemed pretty ticked, but I don't care. He's a jerk," I said, only half lying. There was no need to alert her about Mike's drunken excursions.

"Finally, five years later," she said, reaching across the table to lay her hand on mine. "I'm really glad you aren't hanging around him as much. He's not a good person. I've tried to like him for forever. I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did without realizing it."

"You bring out the best in me, Bella," I said, truly meaning what I said.

After supper, we walked back to our cars. It was fairly late, and the lights were off in the store. I was parked in front of Bella's truck, so I (reluctantly) left first. I gave her the cell phone before driving off. I started driving down the road when I realized I'd forgotten my jacket at the store. Turned around and began the drive back to Port Angeles. I was about ten minutes away from the store when I turned back, and surprisingly, I didn't pass Bella. She was a slow driver, but not that slow. I slowed down when I entered the city limits, wandering along the streets until the bookstore came into view. There, I saw two figures in the dim light of the streetlamp. One of them I recognized as Bella. The other figure had Bella up in the air before letting go of her and pushing her back through the store window. My tires squealed as I took off down the empty street, ignoring a few stop signs in my attempt to get to Bella.

I rushed out of my car, leaving it on, and jumping through the window after whoever had just done that to Bella. It was now kicking her. I could see blood everywhere as I pulled the figure off of her. I now knew it was Mike Newton. Mike fought against me as I pulled him away, off of Bella. He began punching at me and not making a connection with anything. I pushed him back into the bookshelves just to get him off me long enough to see if Bella was okay. He came back quicker than I thought he would and I continued punching him, kicking him, whatever I could do to get him to stop. I went into this with every intention of using as little violence as possible, but once I started to think of what he had just done to Bella, I couldn't stop. He was passed out on the floor and I was kicking him when I felt someone come up behind me and lay a hand on my shoulder. I stopped abruptly and turned to see Janet. I didn't even say anything to her, I just went to Bella. I looked over her and saw she was passed out.

"Bella? Bella?" I cried out, but she said nothing. She just moved her head and grunted a little. "No, No, don't move, please, don't move," I said.

"Police will be here in about two minutes," I heard Janet say. I ignored her.

"Gosh," I said, looking down at Bella, holding her hand, and knowing there was nothing that I could do for her right then. The police took Mike into custody as soon as they got there. When the ambulance arrived, I wasn't allowed to ride with her, even though I yelled and cussed more than I ever had in my entire life. I finally gave in and let them go. I didn't even realize there were tears in my eyes until Janet walked over and wiped them away. She wrapped her arms around me in a comforting embrace while I cried. I couldn't help it. I was just so frustrated, so mad. At myself. How had I not seen this coming? How had I let this happen right under my nose?

"You should get to the hospital," Janet said, pushing me towards my car once I stopped crying long enough to move away. I just nodded and went to the car to drive off, Bella's blood staining my hands.

_A/N: Really really really long!!!!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: I hope these next two chapters will be happier..._

The next few days were complete torture. After talking to the police, I arrived at the hospital and sat in Bella's room without saying a word, always at her bedside, always holding her bandaged hand while she said my name over and over and over again. Her parents had been there, but I had basically ignored them. I just looked at Bella, praying she would wake up sometime soon. Finally, four days later, her eyes fluttered open. Luckily, we had the room to ourselves. Her dark eyes began observing me. She was probably more worried about me right now than herself.

"Edward," her dry voice croaked.

"Bella," I said. "I am so sorry," I said, my eyes welling with tears threatening to spill over.

"No, Edward, nothing is your fault at all, shhhh," she murmured, trying to comfort me. I continued to hold onto her hand as I laid my head onto her stomach where there was no bandages, and began to cry. I'd held back all of my tears since Saturday night and seeing her awake again brought all the memories of the other night back. I didn't feel tough anymore. I just felt like a complete jerk, an idiot, who caused his girlfriend to end up horribly mangled. Bella ran her fingers throug my hair as I sobbed. Eventually, I had the gall to look her in the face again. "Come here," she said.

I leaned in close to her. I brushed my lips against hers lightly and the beeps from the monitor came faster before we finally broke away. We were breathing harder. I leaned forward once more to kiss her forehead.

"Bella, I love you. More than anything in this world. I am so-"

"Do not say the word 'sorry'. None of what happened was your fault."

"Do you even know what happened?" I asked quietly. She was quiet for a moment, probably trying to remember the fateful events of Saturday night.

"I remember I wanted something... a candy bar. I walked over to the vending machine. I picked it up, and Mike was there. He was talking to me about how I was the reason you weren't doing track and I told him that I wasn't. He grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go, so I slapped him. Then..." she paused, looking to me, gauging my reaction, "I... he picked me up and I kicked. He let me down and pushed me through the window. He was kicking me and I blacked out." I just looked at our hands. I couldn't look her in the face, not after I was the reason she was here. "What else happened?" she asked quietly.

"I forgot my jacket. I had just gotten out of town when I realized that. I decided to go ahead and drive back to get it. I was a little worried when I didn't pass you on the road. I drove up just in time to see you go through the window-" my voice broke and I closed my eyes, trying to settle myself. "Then, I ran in there and kicked the sh- crap out of that scumbag," I said, avoiding the cuss word I was about to use. Bella was still a lady, after all. "Janet heard and called the police. They rushed you here in the ambulance, arrested Mike, and sent him in to have psychiatric evaluations. As it turns out, he'll be spending quite some time in a cell with padded walls and a straightjacket."

"So, how bad am I?" she asked hesitantly.

"Broke your leg falling onto it after he pushed you through the window. You needed stitches on your scalp. He cracked three ribs when he was kicking you. You're bruised everywhere. They removed the glass from your hands and bandaged them up," I said, my voice continuing to crack as my eyes filled up with tears again. It broke my heart to talk about it. Seeing me like this made Bella's eyes well up too.

"Where are my mom and dad?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"They went to get some food."

"What day is it?"

"Wednesday," I answered quietly.

"Wednesday? Wow," she said in amazement. How could she be amazed at a time like this? Leave it to Bella...

"Yes. I was just so relieved when you woke up. You've done nothing but say my name for the past three days. It was the only thing that let me know you weren't brain-damaged," I laughed. Things always seem funnier after you've just got done crying. Just then, the door opened and Bella's parents walked in.

"Bella, oh my gosh! I'm so glad you're awake! Don't scare me like that ever again! I love you so much! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?" her mother asked frantically.

"You had us all worried, Bells," her dad said quietly. They both stood on her left side, I was on her right, still holding her hand. We were all very quiet for a moment, which was interrupted by screeching.

"BELLA! YOU'RE AWAKE! OH, MY GOSH, I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!! BUT I KNEW YOU WOULD MAKE IT! I HAVE TO HAVE SOMEONE TO SHOP FOR!" Alice screamed as she walked through the door, holding Jasper's hand.

"Thank God, oh, Bella!" Rose said coming through the room with Emmett at her side. Bella's parents and I stepped back to make room for the new visitors. Jasper and Alice were on Bella's right, Rosalie and Emmett on her left. She began to speak in her same dry, cracked voice.

"I love you guys. All of you in different ways. Going through what I just went through made me realize that. Alice- my best friend. I love you more than a sister. Sure, you make me mad and take me shopping against my will, but you're always trying to make me look my best and do what you think is right for me. You're always there to have fun with me, to laugh with me, and cry with me."

"Rosalie, you're completely beautiful, and sometimes vain, and I'm jealous of you, but not for that. You never let your emotions get the better of you. You're the rock I can stand on when times are tough. You tell it like it is and never crack under pressure. You're completely amazing and know how to listen and how to give advice."

"Jasper- like your sister, you also have that same thing going for you. You're an amazing listener and know exactly what to say and what to do to cheer me up or calm me down. You're perfect for Alice and I'm glad that you two could get together. You are so sweet to me and treat me like I'm your sister. I appreciate everything that you've done and continue to do for me."

"Emmett. Gosh, what can I say about you?" she laughed. "You're like the big brother I never had. You make fun of me and cause me to blush daily, but you stick up for me too. When people are being mean to me, you're always there to kick the crap out of them when needed. I bet you're mad you missed Mike, huh?" She asked. He nodded.

"Edward," she began. "I love you. So much. It took me a long time to realize how much I wanted you in my life and it took you a long time to figure out where you really belong. With me. Without you, I wouldn't be here alive. You've saved my life in so many ways, physically and emotionally. You are the combination of all of the great qualities of all of my friends in one. I love you. I love you all, so much it hurts." One by one, we all came up to hug and kiss her.

Alice wrapped her thin arms around her shoulders and pecked her cheek lightly, then sprung away. Rosalie hugged her as well, then grabbed her hand. Jasper kissed her forehead and grabbed her other hand. Emmett leaned in and pecked her wetly on the cheek. Finally, I leaned in and kissed her lips gently, then her forehead. I didn't care that her parents were in the room. I didn't care who was in the room. I just cared about Bella and how much I loved her. I sensed that Bella needed a glass of water, so I poured her one. She drank it before passing out quietly into slumber.

_A/N: I cheated a little on this one. I used a lot of the same things as Boy from Alaska. Next chapter will be the last one._


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...**

_A/N: Last chapter... I think I'm gonna cry when I'm done, really. It just hit me how big this has been. I complained about it, but now, I'm really sad to be done with the story. Thanks to everyone, and this is for you..._

Things had been put in perspective for me after the incident. Bella slowly began recovering and Alice and Rose helped her a lot. I continued to support her and help her do everything, emotionally and physically. Seeing her so beaten up and that close to death made me realize something: make every day count. I wanted her to know how much I loved her, and we were young, and I knew that. I knew that it couldn't happen for a few years, but I wanted her to be my wife. One night, I called a meeting with my parents. I sat them on the couch like I had when I'd announced that I would be dating Bella. They sat there and looked at me again with the same worried eyes.

"Mom. Dad. I'm not asking for your opinion, but I'd love to hear it. I'm going through with this no matter what your decision and thoughts on this are. Seeing Bella... in the hospital... well, it nearly killed me." I saw that my mothers eyes were concerned. She knew how difficult that time was for me, right after everything. "That's why I know that there's something I need to do soon. I... I'm going to ask Bella to marry me." Esme gasped and Carlisle's eyes grew wider.

"Oh, Edward! But... you're so young!" Esme began. I was about to protest when she held up her hand for me to stop. "I think that you should do whatever you know in your heart is right and your father and I will stand beside you, no matter what."

"Edward, we already love Bella so much, almost as much as you. We just want to see you together," Carlisle said calmly.

"Thank you," I said. "And I know we're only seventeen. But we won't be seventeen forever. And we won't get married until we're out of high school. I just want Bella to know that I want her with me forever." It felt weird confessing this to my parents, but it was something that needed to be done.

The next day, I went to Seattle by myself. I'd saved up a lot of money over the years, and it helped that my father was a doctor. I went to a store in the mall that I'd passed a million times, never going in it. I walked into the jewelry store, nervous as ever. I was greeted by a nice older man.

"Hello, how can I help you today?" he said cheerfully.

"Uh, I- well, I'm looking for an engagement ring," I said, stuttering along the way. The guy looked at me knowingly.

"Ahh, I see. Right this way." He led me over to a section to the left. There were so many shapes and sized and cuts and materials. I had no idea what to choose. "The things you need to ask yourself as you do this are, 'what is she like?' and 'does this ring represent her?'" the man said to me. That's when I saw the one. It was a gold band with one diamond in the center. It reminded me of Bella: little and fragile, but beautiful. I took it and kept it with me until the night of the prom.

I put on my tux and kept my hair messy. I wasn't going to change that. I made sure I had the ring in my pocket and went to go greet Bella. Her dress was beautiful and blue and long. The top was lighter and as it went down, there were ruffles. Each ruffle was a darker shade of blue. Bella had on one heel and the other foot had a walking cast. I knew I'd have to hold onto Bella the whole night because she was so clumsy with two feet that she'd almost kill herself with only one... with a heel! Alice and Rosalie had done a good job on her makeup, but she didn't need it. She was gorgeous already, without it.

Esme came up and hugged her quickly once she had gotten by my side. She reached behind her neck and took off her necklace. It had diamonds all the way around and another diamond hung from the center. She handed it to Bella.

"Bella, take it. Keep it."

"Oh, Esme, it's too much, I can't," she said, her voice thick with emotion.

"No, it isn't. You've helped make me the happiest mother in the world. You would have gotten it eventually, anyway," she said. I helped to put the necklace on Bella, then our parents took pictures. Esme and Renee were both crying because their babies were grown up. Carlisle was proud, and Charlie... was Charlie. He seemed a bit uncomfortable around all of this. After pictures, we went to the Volvo and drove to Forks High. It hadn't rained at all that day, and it had been completely lovely.

We went into the gym, filing in after all the other juniors and seniors of Forks High. Bella wanted to sit down, but it was Prom. She had to dance with me.

"No, Bella. Please dance with me. I won't let you fall, I promise." I convinced her to come out and let me hold her close, our bodies swaying from side to side, junior high style. Alice, Rose, Jasper, and Emmett eventually arrived, all looking attractive. It got to be the final dance of the night, and I suddenly got something like stage fright. I then led Bella outside to sit under a tree in the full moonlight. I needed to calm myself down. I was holding her hand the entire way. She sat down first, then I moved behind her, positioning my legs on either side of her body. She leaned back into my chest, sighing lightly. I could feel the braclet I'd given her against my leg, and I was almost certain she still hadn't taken it off. I leaned forward to kiss her shoulders and throat delicately.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered in her ear. I could feel the goosebumps that formed on her skin when I said it. "It's very difficult for me to talk about, but... when you were hurt, all I could think about was if you died. How could I live with myself? Of course I was thinking of you recovering, but there was always that 'What if?' in the back of my head, eating away at me. There's no one I want to be with more than you. You're my everything." She now was staring at me, straight into my eyes. I felt like she could see into my soul. "You're my life. I can't live without you," I whispered.

"I feel the same," she whispered back. "You make me feel beautiful and amazing, all the time, even when I'm the farthest thing from it. You're honest with me and I believe you. You protect me and I know I'm always safe. I love you, Edward Anthony Masen."

"So where do we go from here?" she asked as she had all those months before. It was now or never...

"I don't know," I said quietly as I reached into my pocket. I pulled the black velvet box and placed it on her lap. "Open it," I ordered gently. She gasped when she saw the ring and turned back to me.

"Now, I know we're still in high school and nothing will happen until we are at least out of high school, but I was wondering if you'd like to marry me." She just stared at the ring before turning back to me, her eyes shining with tears.

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" she screamed. I was so happy... she was my everything and she had just said yes to me. I had no right to have her, but she had given herself to me.

"It's mostly just a promise ring, you know, but it will be something to say that you're mine and no one elses." I didn't want to scare her off with the whole commitment thing, but I don't think she would have cared if we had jumped in the Volvo and driven to Vegas.

"Forever," she said.

"Forever," I whispered her ear, before kissing her full lips and placing the ring on her finger.

_A/N: Officially done!!!!! I'm about to cry. Really. Thank you to everyone who has been here for me since Boy from Alaska. Thank you to everyone who was there for me and reviewed. Oh, and those movies from Chapter 10 were _Juno_ and _Titanic._ There you go. I hope you enjoyed it. I love you and thank you sooo much!!!!_


	16. Long AN and Update, Please Read!

A/N: So, I've noticed that lately I've been making it onto quite a few Favorites lists, which is completely great, and I love it! So thank you to all those who are adding me and who have subscribed to alerts. And even though this is a little late, and no one will probably read this until it's too late, just letting you know that even if you didn't like it, even if you don't have much to say besides "yeah, it was good", I'd still like you to review, because I love them soooooo much, and I can't tell you how much I really appreciate them. Just saying thank you to all of those who are reading it, and who have read it, and who have reviewed time and time again. And just so you know, I am working on trying to do another fanfiction for Twilight, as well as my own original work, which I hope to publish on deviantart and fictionpress, and I'll of course let you know when that happens to be. As funny as it sounds, I think I actually get more of my personal work done during school. I know I told you guys I'd have another fic out this summer, but it just hasn't worked out. I've got the first two chapters done, though! The thing is, I don't want to start a story and post the chapters right away, and then not have anything for months, because I know I hate it when authors do that to me.

Some other fics I'm planning are for Fright Night, which I'm sure I've already said... haven't I? And I have a few other things planned, none of which come to mind at the moment, lol... I'm a little brain-dead right now. Oh, and if you're looking for some good reads before the end of summer (when you're not reading fics, lol), I'd recommend:

_10 Things I Hate About Me_ by Randa Abdel-Fattah (and if you like this, I'd read her first book as well, _Does My Head Look Big in This?_)

Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris (of course)

_Les Miserables_ by Victor Hugo (my friend was in that musical, and he was amazing, and I wanted to read the book, which is huge, but soooo good)

Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare (I've met her. I went to her book signing and talked to her for like, 5 minutes and I told her I named my cat after Simon, and then she told me she named Simon after her cat!)

_Wake _and _Fade_ by Lisa McMann (I've met her too, AND held Ms. Spoobin... be jealous)

_Common Sense _by Thomas Paine or _Common Sense_ by Glenn Beck (good if you're a conservative or just like American history. Glenn Beck is my hero, for sure. Best quote ever: "The moment I stop being genuine is the moment I fail."- Glenn Beck. Funny thing is, the guy I wrote "The Boy from Alaska" for? Yeah, his nickname for me is "Genuine Person")

_The Luxe_ and _Rumors_ and _Envy_ by Anna Godberson (and _Splendor_ comes out this year!)

_The Legend of Sleepy Hollow_ by Washington Irving (classic and amazing, and probably the only American fairy tale)

Not to mention...

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (whom I've met too, btw, again, be jealous...)

So, to all of you, I hope your summer is going great and has been going great! Please, if you want to talk to me about anything or ask me anything, review or PM me, I always get back to your questions. Oh, and I love book and movie suggestions, and those are some things you should put in the reviews here! And, if you watch _The Bachelorette_, you should talk about what your thoughts on that were... I loved Reid, lol... anyway, thanks for reading!

Love,

Emily


	17. KEEP READING

KEEP READING. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to insert some sibliminal messaging in here to keep you going to get to the good, heavy stuff that I want to talk to you guys about. So KEEP READING. Firstly, thank you for actually clicking on this and getting this far to be able to read this message. Secondly, I wanted to give some summer reading suggestions, as well as some television suggestions.

_A Thousand Splendid Suns _by Khaled Hosseini - I had to read _The Kite Runner _for junior English, and so over Christmas, I read this book in about a day and a half. So worth it.

_Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side_ by Beth Fantaskey - Just a fun, quick read.

KEEP READING.

_East of Eden_ by John Steinbeck - I had to read this for AP English, and it was the best book I read in that class. Plus, I grew up loving the movie and James Dean is pretty yummy, you know?

_The Hunger Games_ by Suzanne Collins - In case you're a little behind like I am, lol.

_Water for Elephants_ by Sara Gruen - I went to her book signing a couple of months ago, and she's a very interesting person, and this is a great read. Read it before you see the movie.

_Leave Her to Heaven_ by Ben Ames Williams - If you don't read this, at least watch the movie. Gene Tierney is sooo psycho that it makes my version of Mike in this story look like a good guy. And Vincent Price is in it for the last half hour, and he's probably the best part of the movie.

_Clockwork Angel_ by Cassandra Clare, not to mention_ City of Fallen Angels_ - The first is good... not as good as the Mortal Instruments, but still worth reading. As for the second, I was skeptical about continuing the series, but I read the first 50 pages and decided that it was SO WORTH IT. I'm glad she continued and I'm available to gush about Jace anytime you want. PM me. For real.

KEEP READING.

As for television:

Guilty Pleasures: _The Bachelorette, Pretty Little Liars_

For laughs...: _The Whitest Kids U Know, Tosh.0, The Big Bang Theory_

Can't miss: _The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural_

If I'm in the room...: _The Voice _(Team Adam!), _Pawn Stars, American Pickers, American Restoration_

Just a note on _Supernatural: _I'm pretty sure that now, it's a full-on obsession. I hated it at first, and then my brother made me rewatch the series two and a half years ago, and it blew my mind, and I now own the first five seasons... don't get me started on season 6.

KEEP READING.

HERE IT IS. THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

I have gotten some requests over the past few months to let you guys in on the situation and how everything has turned out, even two years after I published this. Which blows my mind. A lot. I read this and look back and think about how much I myself have improved as a writer, and more importantly, as a person. I was fifteen when this all started and I thought that I would never get over my crushes and feelings and guess what? I did. My guy and I are still civil, still Facebook friends, but we've both changed and grown so much in different ways that neither of us bares any resemblance at all to the eleven-year-olds we used to be. He's going into the Marines, and I'm not sure what else. I'm going to college to be a pharmacist, I work my part time job at Burger King, and I maintained a (weighted) GPA of 4.1 throughout high school, and graduated with honors. That might sound a little impressive (not to sound stuck up), but trust me, when I look back at the past four years and try to describe my feelings, I can't, because Bella said it better:

"I was a good student, but never the top of the class. Obviously, I could be counted out of anything athletic. Not artistic or musical, no particular talents to brag of. Nobody ever gave away a trophy for reading books. After eighteen years of mediocrity, I was pretty used to being average. I realized now that I'd long ago given up any aspirations of shining at anything. I just did the best with what I had, never quite fitting into my world."

-Bella Cullen, _Breaking Dawn_, Chapter 26, _Shiny_

I guess I'm just venting because I just graduated, haha. But seriously, this is what I feel like. If there is one thing I've learned during high school it is that life goes on... and I believe Bella said something to that effect at the beginning of _New Moon_... but I digress. Things change. People change. When you're in high school and you don't have a date, it's the end of the world. When you fail a test, it's the end of the world. When someone doesn't reciprocate feelings, it's the end of the world. This is where Jessica's valedictorian speech from _Eclipse_ comes in. It's okay to make mistakes and be stupid, something I'm still accepting myself. I look back at some of the things I've felt and done and think "What the hell was I thinking?"

But back to this story.

If I have just helped one person... just ONE... then this story has done it's job. I wrote it to get my feelings out and to improve my writing, but as I went on and finished this saga in record time, it became more than just about me. It became about the people I was writing for. I wanted to please you all and hopefully help you all through the same sort of struggles. I know that I'm just a dumb teenaged girl, but I know that nearly EVERYONE has a story similar to mine, and I wanted to illuminate that. You're not alone, and you'll always have a friend in me.


End file.
